Jeremie: XANAfied
by Deadly.Nightshade.Blossom
Summary: Jeremie is possessed by XANA and goes to Lyoko, and the rest of the group is devastated. Good thing Jeremie gave Odd new powers before he left...
1. Chapter 1

Well, here's a fanfic (vaguely) promised to you in my previous one

**Well, here's yet **_**another**_** fanfic! Yay! It's been hinted in a previous story – you know the one where Jeremie gets possessed by XANA? (No promises he'll throw anybody into the digital sea, though)**

**Disclaimer: The words 'Code Lyoko' and 'own' are not used in the same sentence as my name. Unless the sentence is negative.**

The Lyoko Warriors, minus Yumi, were sitting around their usual breakfast table, when Jeremie cleared his throat, indicating he would like to talk.

'Odd? You know how before, you were complaining about not having a superpower on Lyoko?' Jeremie asked as they ate.

Odd stopped eating to listen. Aelita giggled. Odd looked just like Kiwi when a dog treat was brought into view.

'Well, I designed a power and-'

'What? You mean I get a _power_? Yes! Tell me what it is, _please_!' Odd cut in. Ulrich sighed, and went back to his food. It was no use telling Odd to be quiet.

Jeremie frowned. 'I was getting to-'

Again Jeremie was rudely interrupted. 'Oh, maybe I have super strength? You know, like Superman?' Odd made a show of flexing his biceps, now out of his chair with excitement. Thankfully, the rest of the student body was used to Odd's strange behaviour, and didn't pay too much attention.

'No-'

'Well, super speed then? Oh yeah, Ulrich has speed…' Odd's face fell momentarily, but brightened up almost immediately. 'Ooh! Can I have energy balls like Aelita?'

'You-'

'Or force fields?'

'Let me-'

'Maybe I can go _invisible_!' Odd's eyes widened at the possibility. 'Tell me I can go invisible!'

'Will you be quiet?' bellowed Jeremie. Everyone in the cafeteria looked around. Ulrich snorted into his scrambled eggs. Odd was instantly cowed into silence, and gave the watching students a cheery smile.

'Ugh! Don't tell me you _still_ play superpower games!' Sissi's malicious voice broke the sudden silence. Odd and Jeremie flushed as everybody laughed and gradually went back to their business.

Jeremie took several deep breaths. 'Odd, you almost don't _deserve_ a power after that,' he muttered under his breath, in case Sissi was still listening. Odd didn't respond, and gave Jeremie a pleading look.

Aelita punched Jeremie lightly on the arm. 'Come on, we all want to know as much as he does,' she said.

'Well, I developed the ability of extra-sensory perception, or ESP, for Odd on Lyoko. He can now recognise the signature of XANA's monsters, and his senses have been supernaturally altered, and are now beyond the ability of a normal human.' Jeremie looked around, beaming, at the blank looks on everyone but Aelita's faces.

Jeremie sighed. 'In other words, Odd can sense when XANA's monsters are close, and he has supersonic sight, hearing, smell and tracking ability. He can tell where towers are, and he can see through XANA's illusions.'

Odd's face split into a grin. 'Awesome!'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'So, Odd, let's see these powers you've been rattling on about all day,' drawled Yumi, arms akimbo as they stood on the ice sector. Odd stuck his tongue out at her.

'You wait!'

'OK, Odd, tell me where the nearest tower is,' Jeremie said from nowhere.

'7 degrees north-north-west of our position,' Odd said automatically. Then he looked shocked at what he said. 'Wh-what? I didn't know that… what?'

Jeremie sounded amused as he asked his next question. 'Correct. Any monsters coming?'

Odd frowned. 'Yeah… I can hear them… sounds like two Krabes and a Tarantula… they'll be here in about ten minutes,' He swivelled his head around. 'I can see them too… look!' he pointed into the distance.

Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita stared. They could see absolutely nothing.

'Interesting,' Jeremie murmured. 'I can't see any monsters on the computer…'

Sure enough, the aforesaid monster trio arrived at the appointed time. The Lyoko Warriors had already stationed themselves at strategic points, and the monsters were finished off fairly quickly.

'So, what do you think?' Odd grinned at his friends.

'Great!' Aelita said.

'Yeah,' Ulrich nodded.

'It'll be a great help when Jeremie's not at the supercomputer,' Yumi added.

Odd basked in their praise, but suddenly cocked his head. 'Jeremie, there's an activated tower, the one closest to us.'

'Really? I- oh, the superscan just picked it up. Wow… your power's better than I thought,' Jeremie murmured.

'Vehicles coming up… now!' Right on cue, their vehicles materialised. Yumi, Ulrich and Odd hopped on, while Aelita took to the air with her wings.

Together, they zoomed off to the tower.

When they arrived at the tower, they had a welcoming view of three Bloks and a Megatank. Odd zoomed off to lead off the Megatank, leaving a Blok apiece for Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita. They nodded, and then flew off.

'XANAfied person-' Jeremie's urgent voice was abruptly cut off. They could hear a faint sizzling.

'Jeremie? _Jeremie_?' Aelita's panicked voice rang out.

'Careful!' Yumi shouted, flicking a fan over to deflect a laser that would have knocked Aelita out of the air. Aelita barely noticed. The fan zoomed back around to Yumi, slicing through a Blok en route.

Unfortunately, this gave another Blok ample time to freeze her. Yumi's legs were trapped as she struggled for release.

'Need help?' an all-too-familiar voice rang out behind her, sounding somewhat sinister.

Yumi whirled around… well, at least she tried to. Aelita, having destroyed a Blok with her energy fields, stopped in the air, wings beating steadily. She too, was staring in wonder at the figure that had just materialised.

Nearby, Ulrich managed to shove the remaining Blok over the edge, and let his swords clatter to the ground as he caught sight of the newcomer.

Next, Odd came back, spluttering. 'Is that – is that really-'

Meanwhile, the newcomer crossed his arms over his chest. 'Don't you recognise a friend?' he asked, a mirthless grin splitting his face.

All of them whispered simultaneously, 'Jeremie.'

**I'm sorry Jeremie fans, my stories either don't feature Jeremie much at all or put him in horrible situations. Apologies again.**

**Sorry this story isn't too good… I kind of rushed it… but review anyway! .**

**Until next chapter, then…**


	2. Chapter 2

I can't think of anything to put an introductory author's note right now, so just read on

**I can't think of anything to put an introductory author's note right now, so just read on…**

No, their eyes weren't deceiving them. There was Jeremie, standing on Lyoko, facing them with a malicious spark in his ice-blue eyes. A XANA sign flickered and buzzed where the irises should have been.

He was impeccably dressed in a designer suit. His hair, instead of being in his usual geeky style, had become more stylish. He had swapped his round glasses for trendy, narrow, sharply rectangular lenses.

He was altogether the cliché image of a sophisticated evil genius.

Evidently, Odd didn't think people in suits could fight. 'He isn't armed, we could take him,' he hissed at the rest of the group. Ulrich glanced up nervously.

'Laser arrow!' Odd shouted, and a dart went zooming toward Jeremie's chest with deadly accuracy. Jeremie lazily lifted a hand and flicked his fingers – black lightning shot out and deflected the arrow from its course.

'Whoa,' Odd said, apparently impressed. 'Now _that's_ a cool power.'

'Let's hope he doesn't have any more up his sleeves,' Ulrich grunted, unsheathing his swords in one fluid movement.

'This really is quite fun! I'm most obliged to you,' the Jeremie in front of them called merrily. 'Go on Ulrich, show us what you got!'

Ulrich ignored this and sprinted toward him. Black lightning lanced out again, but was avoided thanks to a timely dodge.

Meanwhile, behind Yumi, Aelita and Odd a few more monsters had crept up. Odd had already heard them, however, and they were dispatched in a reasonably short time.

Ulrich had reached Jeremie. He braced himself, and plunged his swords down into Jeremie's unprotected chest. But the descent was stopped by Jeremie's hands. Each of them was clutching one of Ulrich's swords with no apparent pain.

More interestingly, black energy was playing around Jeremie's hands. As Ulrich watched in horror, the energy disintegrated Ulrich's swords, leaving Ulrich grasping thin air.

Ulrich looked up from his blades into Jeremie's eyes. Jeremie stared back for a split second. Then, with a sweeping movement of his arm, a bolt of crackling energy shot out of his palm, knocking Ulrich off his feet.

Yumi cried out, and attacked Jeremie with full vigour. Even though she managed to land a few glancing blows after her fans were rendered useless, she too was sent flying by the deadly black rays.

Behind her, Odd glanced up at Aelita. Aelita was still staring at Jeremie, stony faced.

'Guess it's up to me then,' he muttered. He took a deep breath, flexed his paws, and charged straight at Jeremie, arms outstretched for a rugby tackle.

Perhaps it was luck, or that Jeremie was preoccupied thinking up a new devious plan, or just Jeremie not expecting such an idiotic approach. But it worked, as Odd shoved Jeremie right off the edge of the sector into the digital sea.

A distant splash registered far below. Yumi and Ulrich stirred groggily, and sat up. 'You're OK,' mumbled Yumi, before falling back into unconsciousness, Ulrich at her side.

'You should deactivate the tower, Princess,' Odd reminded Aelita, who was looking blankly at the place Jeremie disappeared.

'Oh… yes, the tower,' Aelita said softly, so softly Odd barely heard. Aelita folded her wings, and landed lightly in front of the tower. Then, arms outstretched, she slid into the tower, leaving ripples in her wake.

Odd stared unhappily after her. 'What are we going to tell everyone at school?'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita managed to form a Jeremie clone, by reading through Jeremie's extremely disorganised notes. The Jeremie clone knew nothing of the supercomputer, nothing of Lyoko and nothing of XANA.

She had also taken up full time the job of the genius of the group. That's not to say she enjoyed it – it was doubly hard on her, as she was neither as smart as Jeremie was and didn't had any help.

Aelita herself had become more withdrawn. Her rare smiles and laughs sounded high pitched and forced, and she often was silent, staring blankly into space.

Nobody else noticed anything. Only her friends saw the more subtle signs – her slumped shoulders, the bags under her eyes and her steadily lowering grades.

In truth, her behaviour was affecting everyone else in the group too. Yumi now snapped at the slightest thing, Ulrich was more silent and moody than ever.

Odd had given up trying to cheer them up – his attempts were just met with sour looks, and, in Yumi's case, biting sarcasm. Besides, how could he cheer them up when he no longer felt complete himself?

It's funny just how much difference one blonde genius can make.

**Short (and slightly pointless) chapter. Sorry.**

**Review pretty please! (on that note, thanks to the people who **_**did**_** review…) And do tell me if you think I'm being too repetitive with my storylines…**

**Oh, and one more thing. I decided to make XANA-Jeremie more eloquent than your usual 'Kill them!' or 'Attack!' from a typical XANA possessed person. Just to make the story more interesting. .**


	3. Chapter 3

OK

**OK… third chapter, knock yourself out! (Have you noticed my A/Ns have gotten remarkably shorter?)**

Aelita was close to kicking the supercomputer in frustration. Not that it would've done anything, apart from stub her toe.

She clenched her slightly trembling hands and took several calming breaths. This was the _fifth_ return to the past she'd been forced to trigger since Jeremie had been possessed.

The reason? Simple. Jeremie was too clever for them. He always managed to catch them unawares, and devirtualise Aelita while everyone else's backs were turned.

Of course, their weapons were useless and, when William came along, they were just about ready to cry.

Aelita tapped in the keyboard sequence with bloodless fingers, unbidden tears threatening to spill out. She _hated_ feeling so helpless. She compressed her lips and braced herself for the bubble of white light that erupted.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Chatter filled the cafeteria. Students all around were happily discussing their lives.

But in a secluded table in the corner, an observer would have noticed a group of distressed youths, conversing in whispers.

Odd drove his hand onto the cafeteria table. An instant later he winced and waved it around in agony. 'I can't – ouch_ – believe_ he – ooh – did it again!' he hissed.

The Jeremie clone looked at him, an eyebrow cocked. Aelita allowed a small smile to flit across her face at the exaggeratedly agonised look on Odd's face. Ulrich looked up dully and returned to prodding his food unenthusiastically.

Aelita stood up. 'We've got to deactivate that tower as soon as possible,' she said with as much conviction as she could muster. Odd nodded and set off for the door, still nursing his hand.

Ulrich pulled out his mobile and texted Yumi. Then he shuffled after Odd.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

At the factory, Aelita had set a timed virtualisation. Ulrich, Odd and Yumi were first, followed by Aelita.

She hesitated before going in. The thought of fighting and attempting to virtually kill her Jeremie filled her with disgust. But it had to be done. It had to be done again and again until they found a way to get rid of XANA's possession.

Once on Lyoko, Odd led them to the activated tower. Strangely, nobody was there, save a couple of Kankrelats.

Yumi raised her eyebrows at the others. 'Guess XANA decided we weren't good enough for Jeremie,' she muttered.

They all wearily set to destroying the monsters. Everybody was fighting much worse than usual, with the possible exception of Odd.

Odd catapulted through the air, landing neatly beside Yumi as she listlessly threw a fan at the nearest monster. It missed by quite a few metres. Even the glow of her weapons seemed less than usual.

Odd shot the monster, and turned to Yumi, hands on his hips. 'Wow Yumi, you're really losing your touch. I don't know what you'd do without me,' he teased. He knew instantly that it was a mistake as Yumi turned to him, eyes blazing.

Twin fans erupted in her outstretched hands. 'Odd,' she said dangerously through gritted teeth, 'has anybody _ever_ bothered telling you just how much of an idiot you are?'

She probably would have loosed another barrage of insults, had Ulrich not stepped in her way.

'Don't talk to him like that,' he said, his voice devoid of emotion, 'It's not his fault, and it's not fair to treat Odd like that for trying to cheer us up.'

Yumi stared at him challengingly for a moment. Ulrich coolly met her gaze. Then her shoulders slumped, and her fans vanished into nothing. 'You're… you're right. I'm sorry Odd,' she mumbled. 'It's just…'

What exactly it was, they would never know, for at that moment a now-familiar black bolt erupted from thin air and looped through her body, bearing her away.

'Well, well. A touching scene… _such_ a pity it was cut short…' Jeremie, William and a host of other monsters materialised behind them. No prizes guessing who said it.

Jeremie, astride a Krabe, smirked. A black nimbus sparkled around his hands. Behind him, a silent shadow, sat William.

'_Just_ what we needed,' Odd muttered under his breath.

'Thanks for the returns to the past – they really upped the master's power! See, we can turn invisible now! Even _Odd_ can't detect us,' Jeremie called jauntily. Aelita glared at him.

'Here we go again,' said Ulrich wryly. He looked around, unsheathed his katanas and ran to meet the oncoming monsters, Aelita and Odd in close pursuit.

But they were badly outnumbered. Waves of monsters just kept coming on. Fairly soon they were surrounded by a sea of Krabes and Bloks.

'Any last words?' Ulrich murmured to his friends. He raised his swords again and-

A sizeable boulder imbued with a pink-white aura flew past, narrowly avoiding snapping his blades like twigs. **(A/N Would they snap? Or would they just devirtualise?)**

It charged straight through the monster ranks, creating a clear path directly to the tower, and swung around to deal more damage to the monsters.

Ulrich glimpsed Yumi leaning against another boulder some way away, eyes closed. Two fingers of one hand were lightly touching her temple, the other directing the boulder. She, too, was bathed in a pink-white glow.

Unfortunately, the monsters also noticed her. A Kankrelat dealt a single laser. That was enough. With a groan, Yumi was hit in the stomach. Her form shed flakes of light, until a wireframe remained, which, in turn, flickered and died.

This, however, had a surprisingly lucky effect. The boulder dropped directly above the Krabe where Jeremie and William were enjoying the spectacle.

They were forced to dive over the edge of the sector, or be crushed. The Krabe wasn't so lucky, managing a surprised glance upwards before it was squashed.

Aelita wasted no time, dashing for the tower. Odd gave a mock salute and turned to the remaining monsters.

'Your girlfriend's got some pretty cool tricks up her sleeve!' he called cheekily to Ulrich.

If they weren't on Lyoko, Ulrich would've blushed until he was the same shade as his adversary, a Krabe.

'Shut up, Odd – she's not my girlfriend!' he called back, although there was no denying a tiny grin on his face. Odd grinned himself. Ulrich seemed to be regaining his sense of humour.

Then the tower was deactivated. And they were borne back to the real world.

_**Another**_** pointless chapter. Or is it? ominous music**

**Anyway, I do hope it was more un-rushed than the other chapters… I re-read it three times…**

**Also, I'm sorry Odd's power is now rendered practically useless. It was good while it lasted though…**

**Review! **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter

**Chapter… four, is it?**

**Oh, and in answer to Railen's question, I'm fairly sure Yumi's power **_**is**_** telekinesis… Also, my fanfics are generally set in fourth season when William is possessed...**

**Review at the end please!**

Jeremie looked at his open hand. A faint black nimbus flared around it. He frowned, and closed his hand, snuffing it out. William watched silently from the other end of the submarine they were in, floating in the digital sea.

A memory… so faint and flickering, just out of his reach! He closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands. This was happening a lot these days… too many times for his liking…

Blurred images rushed past in his mind – a tall Japanese girl, a brown haired boy… if only he knew what they meant! Strangely, they seemed to give him a warm, pleasant feeling, almost as if…

He shook himself, startled. Why was he thinking such thoughts? His duty was to the master, only to the master… but a grain of doubt remained in his mind.

A pink haired female floated, unbidden, into his mind. He concentrated on her, willing her to give him peace from the turmoil of emotions inside him. The girl smiled, sending shivers down his spine.

'_Only the real Jeremie would kiss me like that,'_ came a voice. Somehow, he knew it belonged to the girl in his mind.

Suddenly, an enveloping blackness rushed through his mind. The beautiful girl looked over her shoulder, cried out once, and was swallowed.

'_I am your master, they are your enemies! They corrupt your mind, fill you with lies and false hope… You WILL obey me!'_ a menacing hiss filled his mind. Jeremie groaned, trying to resist the voice, but to no avail.

His last conscious thought was an image of he himself, looking bewilderedly at his would-be enemies, in a half-familiar room.

'_Happy birthday Jeremie!' _they sang. Then everything went black.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Meanwhile, in an entirely different world, the same enemies were discussing the very same Jeremie.

'We need to think of how to dispossess Jeremie of XANA,' Aelita said quietly at the back of the class.

Odd rolled his eyes. 'As usual with XANA, it's ten times easier said than done.'

Ulrich chuckled. 'You got that right.'

Aelita continued on, unperturbed. 'I was thinking – you know how XANA uses the Scyphozoa to possess people when on Lyoko?'

Odd and Ulrich nodded uncertainly. 'Well, what we need to do is create some form of anti-Scyphozoa. Something that will suck XANA out of Jeremie's system.' Aelita's voice cracked slightly as she spoke Jeremie's name.

'You mean that's _all_?' Odd said incredulously.

'Well, it's going to be difficult, but yes, that's all.' Aelita confirmed.

'Why didn't you think of this before?' Odd asked. Aelita flushed.

'I-I wasn't thinking very clearly… because… um…' Aelita's mumble trailed off as she stared at her feet. Ulrich kicked Odd on the shins under the table.

'Yowch! Ulrich, next Christmas I'm getting you a pair of nice, soft bunny slippers to wear to school!' Odd yelped. Quite a few people turned around to look, most of them tittering.

'As fascinating as Mr. Stern's footwear is, it's no excuse to interrupt this class,' the teacher said drily. Fortunately, at that moment the bell rang. Odd immediately shot out of the classroom.

And crashed straight into Yumi, who was bowled over. 'Odd, you moron!' she said, shoving him off her and standing up. Odd recovered less quickly and sat slightly cross eyed on the floor. Yumi eyed him disgustedly.

'Come on, we need to get to the factory,' Aelita said, a twinkle in her eye. Yumi raised an eyebrow.

'What now?' she asked. Meanwhile, at their feet, Odd stirred groggily.

'What happened?'

'Come on Odd,' Aelita said, tugging him up. 'We've got a monster to make!'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

A few weeks later, the monster was ready. The Lyoko group stared at it revolving silently on the screen admiringly. It looked almost exactly like the Scyphozoa, except Odd had insisted the colours be various shades of purple.

'OK everybody, I'm setting the virtualisation process and- oh!' Aelita said. Onscreen, a tower was highlighted in red and flashing. It was newly activated.

'Perfect timing, XANA,' congratulated Odd, running for the elevator.

The rest of them couldn't have agreed more. The prospect of having Jeremie back gave everything an extra-bright bright side.

On Lyoko, they virtualised within looking distance of the tower. Behind them, the anti-Scyphozoa floated silently. In front of them, there was nothing except the tower.

But slight shimmers of the air betrayed what it was hiding – a horde of invisible monsters.

'The anti-'zoa has been programmed to go straight for Jeremie and deflect everything else,' murmured Aelita out of the corner of her mouth.

Odd raised an eyebrow. 'Anti-'zoa? I like it,' he smirked. Aelita stuck her tongue out at him.

Then, dramatically, the monsters in front of them were revealed. Thankfully, the amount of monsters was only moderate.

'Drama queen,' Ulrich said. Yumi smiled, but the smile was quickly wiped off as she spotted Jeremie and William, sitting astride a- 'What _is_ that?' she said, pointing.

The others looked. What appeared to be a mutated, giant, squat scorpion bore Jeremie and William. Jeremie had a smug smile on.

The new monster had a round, flat, beige, armoured body (where Jeremie and William sat) with a tiny head perched atop. The head had no features, but nevertheless looked around greedily, searching for prey.

It had ten stubby red legs sticking out either side of the body, and a pair of segmented pincers, which clicked menacingly. But most terrifying of all, a long scorpion-type tail swooped from the rear end, drooping slightly at the top. A viscous looking sting hung from it.

The Lyoko warriors looked at it, dumbfounded. This was evidently the reaction Jeremie wanted, for he then nodded ever so slightly at the rest of the monsters.

The sting shot a laser, which hit Odd in the chest. The rest of the monsters shot simultaneously. Yumi was devirtualised on the spot, while the rest of them lost at least a third of their life points.

The group sprang into action. Meanwhile, unseen in the melee, a certain purple jellyfish made its way serenely around the edges of the battle, drawing ever closer to Jeremie.

**Ooh… I love cliffhangers, don't you? Again, I hope this chapter is still more un-rushed… do tell me what you think of it! )**


	5. Chapter 5

Sigh

**Sigh… my life is an unconquered quest for an unrushed chapter… but you don't want to hear my self pities, do you? Read on… (and review, of course…)**

The anti-'zoa glided toward its quarry, its tentacles streaming out lazily behind it. Right behind William and Jeremie, it paused, as if in hesitation. Then it floated gracefully toward them.

It wove its way through the monsters in its path. This was easy enough, as all of the monsters were engaged in the battle. Once directly behind William and Jeremie, also absorbed in the fray, it again paused.

But soon enough, both possessees **(A/N Is that even a word?)** were cocooned in violet tentacles, three touching their heads. A purple glow surrounded the pair, and a black substance appeared to be streaming out of their heads into the anti-'zoa's pulsing one.

The squat scorpion, however, quickly put an end to that. One swipe of the deadly pincers – Ulrich and Odd cried out – and the tentacles were severed. The monster raised its claws in triumph…

And promptly lowered them, when the anti-'zoa regrew its tentacles and smugly resumed draining XANA out of the boys' systems.

Ulrich and Odd breathed a sigh of relief. Aelita, airborne, grinned cheekily at them. 'Just an extra ability I decided to give it,' she called down to them.

Odd scowled back at her, but his face broke into a grin again. With Jeremie and William out of action, the fight was quickly turning tides.

Beside him, in a whirl of steel, Ulrich managed to finish off three monsters simultaneously. Odd raised an eyebrow. 'Nice,' he congratulated.

'Thanks,' Ulrich replied, already racing for the next monsters. As he ran, he split into three, each wielding two swords.

'Show off,' Odd muttered.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi nearly fell out of the scanner. After a moment's rest, she scrambled up and headed for the elevator. She pressed the button, and the elevator glided smoothly down toward her. The door rolled open…

To reveal three brawny, XANA possessed men. Yumi, off guard, managed to lay one of them low, before she was transfixed by a bolt of crackling energy. She was released in due time, but by then she was cornered.

All three men raised their right arms, malicious grins on their otherwise blank faces. Yumi groaned, and took a defensive stance. There weren't many worse ways to go.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Wonder what's taking Yumi so long? It's not like her,' Odd mused, while casually finishing off a Blok. Ulrich's brow furrowed.

'I don't know,' he admitted worriedly, plunging his swords into a Krabe, and leaping back gracefully. He opened his mouth to voice a few theories, but was interrupted by Aelita.

She had gasped midway through a pitched battle with a trio of Hornets. 'Oh no,' she moaned, 'I hadn't counted on that.'

Ulrich and Odd saw the cause of her distress out of the corner of their eye. The _real_ Scyphozoa had arrived, and was making a direct beeline for the fake one.

The anti-'zoa glided away, evidently attempting to escape the Scyphozoa, but it was hampered by William and Jeremie. The Scyphozoa caught up to it in no time.

The Scyphozoa placed three trailing tentacles on the anti-'zoa's bulbous head. The anti-'zoa shuddered, then gently released its burden. Overhead, Aelita moaned again, Hornets destroyed.

Ulrich slashed the remaining monsters into nonexistence, and turned to face the scene.

The anti-'zoa's colours were slowly changing to match its captor's. Now and then, they flickered back to their original purple, as the anti-'zoa futilely tried to fight back to the Scyphozoa's deathly grip.

It didn't work. The anti-'zoa simply wasn't powerful enough to conquer its namesake. As the horrified Lyoko team watched, the Scyphozoa released a mirror image of itself.

There were now _two_ Scyphozoas. Behind them, Aelita quietly entered the activated tower, shoulders slumped.

'That's all we needed,' groaned Odd. Ulrich nodded, too preoccupied with Yumi to say anything.

Then the tower was deactivated. And they were sent back to the real world.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Ulrich dashed out of his scanner. There, sprawled in a dark corner, was Yumi. She looked as if she had fallen from a height.

Her hair was smoking slightly and hung over her face, her eyes were closed. A nasty bruise marked her forehead and cheekbone, cuts decorated her face and her clothing was torn, also smoking.

Around her were three muscular men, unconscious. Ulrich took no heed of them, running straight to Yumi. He cradled her head in his arms.

'Yumi… Yumi!' he whispered urgently. He brushed the hair back from her face with a gentle thumb. She did not respond.

He shook her shoulders gently. Her head lolled uselessly back, exposing her white neck. Ulrich shook her more desperately. Nothing. He looked up at Aelita and Odd, who had emerged from their scanners.

'Return to the past,' he whispered hoarsely. Aelita nodded, and dashed for the elevator, dragging a protesting Odd.

He then bent over his fallen beloved. She was still breathing, but very slowly and irregularly. 'Don't go, Yumi,' he whispered. He felt for her hand. It was cold. He gripped it anyway.

With the other hand he ran his fingers gently over her injuries. Rage boiled inside him. How dare those idiots hurt her! His anger was replaced by desperate sadness. He switched to smoothing her hair instead.

'Come on Yumi,' he murmured, as if she could hear him. 'You can't leave! We need you!' He paused.

'_I_ need you,' he said, voice cracking. **(A/N I kinda stole some of the quotes from the episode 'Cold War'… but there I go, ruining a romantic moment P) **He resolutely fought the tears threatening to spill out. Then the inevitable happened.

Yumi's breathing stopped.

'No!' he cried out, clutching her lifeless body. Then a white bubble of time enveloped them.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Ulrich immediately shoved his chair back. He didn't care that he was in class, he didn't care that the teacher was staring at him along with everyone else. All he cared about at the moment was the fate of a certain Japanese girl.

He ran out of the classroom before the teacher could stop him. Behind him, he heard Odd begin some fabricated tale to the rest of the class to explain Ulrich's sudden departure.

He barely registered it. He skidded down the stairs, around the courtyard and didn't stop until he was outside Yumi's class.

He peered in, heart beating wildly, hoping against hope Yumi was in there, studying, her hair falling over her face, beautiful brown eyes looking up occasionally…

She wasn't inside.

He frantically pulled out his cell phone and dialled her number. It rang once, twice, ten times.

'_Konichiwa! You have reached Yumi's mobile, please leave a message after the beep!' _**(A/N This isn't actually Yumi's voice mail.)**

Ulrich hurled his phone against the wall. He sank down to the floor, staring blankly at his ruined phone. He buried his face in his hands. She was gone.

**Yay! Another cliffhanger ending! XD**

**What a depressing chapter, hm? Their plan's been foiled, and now Yumi's dead. Well, nobody can say I don't try! (jokes)**

**Review! (please) **


	6. Chapter 6

Well, well

**Well, well… 6****th**** chapter already! I'm so proud… )**

**Be warned… verrry corny clichés coming up…**

Footsteps sounded from around the corner. Ulrich's head jerked up, he was half-certain it would be Yumi who rounded the corner.

In his mind's eye, he saw her glide gracefully across the floor, arms outstretched. He would run to her, embrace her, kiss her…

Then he saw a flash of raven hair. It was her! He knew she would come back! He uttered a strangled cry, and half got up before...

Emily LeDuc swept into view. Ulrich's heart sank back down to his shoes, filled with black disappointment. He sank into his original position, not sparing Emily a second glance. Emily gave him a strange look; nevertheless she walked on to class.

Ulrich knuckled his forehead painfully. _He_ should've taken the Megatank shots she had taken for Aelita; instead he had looked on, dumbstruck.

Before he could mentally beat himself up further, he heard yet _another_ pair of footsteps come down the hallway.

He looked up dully, fully expecting it to be another student or teacher. Or at least somebody else with black hair sent by the gods to mock him.

It took him a moment to register what he was seeing. Then his eyes widened, his jaw dropped. He blinked rapidly to make sure he wasn't dreaming, but then stopped. If it _was_ a dream, he didn't want it to end.

There was Yumi Ishiyama, large as life and twice as beautiful. She gave him a smile, but one eyebrow was slightly cocked as she looked at his ruined mobile opposite.

He leapt to his feet. Some form of adrenaline was filling him up with a tingling feeling that started in his toes and slowly worked its way up. She was _dead_, he had seen her die, surely this was some XANA illusion…

Ulrich dashed toward her. He seized her, and pulled her close fiercely, paying no heed to her surprised face. He took a deep breath, lost in her familiar scent, fresh and smelling faintly of cherry blossoms. This was no illusion.

'You're alive,' he whispered.

'So it would seem,' she replied drily, but with a pleased note in her voice all the same.

'I thought- I thought I had lost you,' he murmured, pulling her closer, enjoying the feel of their bodies so close. Then he realised what he had done.

He pushed himself away from her, cheeks burning red. 'I'm-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me,' he babbled in embarrassment. 'I just-'

Yumi laughed softly. 'Shh,' she said gently. 'I get it.' She paused. 'I had gone to the toilet,' she added. Ulrich flushed even darker and looked down. When he looked back up, her position had not changed.

Her cheeks, too, were faintly tainted with pink, but in Ulrich's eyes that only made her all the more beautiful.

'I'm sorry,' he offered again weakly. Yumi laughed again, shook her head, then pulled him back into the hug. Ulrich, happy and surprised at the same time, hugged her back.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita was not as sad as she was furious. She was lying on her bed, unable to go to sleep.

'That's what you get for rushing,' she muttered angrily. It was two days after the defeat of the anti-'zoa, and she was still fuming.

They had been _so_ close… a couple more seconds and Jeremie and William would be free of XANA's control forever.

But XANA _had_ to win. She clenched her fists. It was no use lying awake, she would have to sleep sometime…

Her reasons rang hollow in her mind as she remembered the achingly familiar bewildered look on Jeremie's face milliseconds before it was replaced by the customary smug grin. A fresh wave of rage swamped her.

She flung back her bedcovers. It was no use. She would go for a walk; the peace and quiet of the night always calmed her thoughts.

Once outside, she breathed in an out quietly. It was no use. XANA was simply too strong. Nearly all the conquered battles with it had been pure flukes.

After a moment's contemplation, she made her decision. Tomorrow, she would talk to the others about accepting another member into the group.

**A/N Now, I could be cruel, stop here and make this yet **_**another**_** cliffie, but I won't. ) Just a pointless A/N. It also doubles as a paragraph break.**

'What?' Odd asked in a hushed voice. 'You want _another_ person to fight XANA?'

Yumi shook her head in disbelief. 'Remember what happened last time?'

Aelita sighed. She knew she would get this reaction. They were, yet again, sitting around their usual lunch table, and Aelita had just brought up her new plan.

'Well, I think we've got no choice,' Ulrich spoke up. Aelita smiled gratefully at him. 'XANA's just too strong.'

Yumi sighed, exasperated. 'Well then, _who_?'

They looked at each other. None of them had a clue.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'_Theo_? You've got to be kidding,' Yumi hissed. They were sitting on a bench, judging whoever passed as a possible Lyoko warrior. Yumi had already nearly left when Odd, desperate, had suggested Herve.

'Well, it's either him or Sissi,' said Odd stubbornly.

'Fair point,' Yumi said.

'Sissi…' Aelita murmured slowly. Her brain was forming an idea.

Everyone swivelled around to look at her. 'You're seriously not suggesting that… that _thing_!' Odd cried.

'Shame for even _thinking_ it, Aelita,' said Yumi.

But once again, Ulrich came to Aelita's rescue. 'I know she's a pain, but I think she could be nicer if she tried,' he admitted. 'I've seen it.'

Yumi's eyes narrowed. 'Oh, and when exactly did you see this good side of Sissi in action?'

Ulrich blushed slightly. 'None of your business.'

'Oh _no_?' Yumi shot back, tone icy. Before Ulrich could reply, she snatched up her lunch and stalked away. 'I say no to another member,' she spat over her shoulder before disappearing into the cafeteria.

Ulrich glared after her, half dismayed, half angry.

'Well… it kills me to say it, but I say yes to Sissi,' Odd said, eyes closed as if the words coming out of his mouth hurt him.

Aelita nodded. 'Then it's settled. You'll have to go and talk to Sissi tomorrow.'

'Me?' Odd cried. 'Why _me_?'

'Because,' Aelita said patiently, 'Yumi hates her, Ulrich can't talk to her unless he wants Yumi even madder than she already is' – here Ulrich muttered something under his breath – 'and Sissi thinks I'm an idiot.'

'And she doesn't think _I'm_ an idiot?' Odd asked incredulously.

'Well… let's just say I think you'd be better at the job,' Aelita said, winking. 'Besides, you'll need to make up with her if she's to be in the group.'

Then the bell rang and Aelita walked away to class.

'Can you believe her?' Odd asked his friend. Ulrich shrugged.

'I'd better go talk to Yumi,' he mumbled, walking away.

Odd shook his head in disbelief. 'They _so _set this up,' he muttered. 'You know, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this,' he added to nobody in particular as he set off for class.

**Well, what do you know… the chapter ends in a cliffie after all! Excellent. P**

**Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Ahhh

**Ahhh… so many mixed opinions from the readers… but review anyway! XD**

Odd wandered aimlessly through the forest, looking around occasionally. He had seen Sissi enter the forest from his dormitory, and, after much pestering from Ulrich, was sent down to look for her.

He was starting to feel like he had been wasting his time when he stumbled across a clearing. The dying light half-illuminated the shadows. It all looked very picturesque.

And there, lying in the middle of the clearing on the long grass was Sissi, black hair spread carelessly around her face. Tears were trickling slowly down her face as she stared at the sky.

Odd stopped in his tracks, shocked. _This_ wasn't the Sissi he knew – perhaps Ulrich had been right after all…

He shook himself, and stepped forward. Unfortunately, this triggered a loud cracking noise as he stepped on a stick on the ground.

Sissi leaped up, looking around wildly. She stared Odd as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

Odd, in turn, looked back at Sissi. Her eyes were red, her glossy hair in disorder. She angrily dashed her tears away.

'_You_! What are you doing here?' she screeched. But her voice shook, and it rang hollow in Odd's ears. It took him a moment to realise her voice had a barely concealed undertone of aching grief.

'I was… going for a walk,' he said evasively, still trying to convince himself it was indeed Elisabeth Delmas who stood before him.

Her eyes narrowed, her mouth opened. Odd sighed – he knew what was coming. But to his amazement, Sissi's shoulders slumped and she sat back down. There she buried her face in her hands and began to rock back and forth, sobbing.

Odd stood there, baffled. _This_ wasn't what he had expected. After a moment's hesitation, he sat down next to her and put his arm around her.

Sissi initially flinched away, but then settled back down. She turned her head and sobbed unashamedly into Odd's shoulder.

Odd just sat there, wondering if defeating XANA was really worth the trouble.

In time, Sissi began to sob out the whole sorry story. Today was the anniversary of her mother's death - 'Just my luck,' Odd thought grimly – and ever since, she had harboured unwanted resentment for the Lyoko Warriors – they all (with the exception of Aelita) came from loving families.

On Sissi's part, it was such a relief to pour it all out to someone, even if it was Odd Della Robbia. She longed for true friends, and had always wanted to be one of Odd's friends – another reason for her resentment of the Lyoko Warriors/

Her crush on Ulrich was only a passing fancy – already it was fading. But she had held onto it, it was the closest thing to friendship she had.

But now, a new feeling was taking over. She didn't quite know what it was, but she dismissed it from her mind as she returned to her present situation.

She rested her head on the comforting weight beside her and closed her eyes. It felt so nice… so _safe…_

Then her head jerked up and she tore herself from Odd's grip. He looked slightly startled, but there was no mistaking the look of relief on his face.

'You… you…' Sissi spluttered. She could feel more tears spilling out and resolutely wiped them away. 'You're going to tell everyone,' she said bitterly, when she couldn't find words to scream. 'Fine. Do it. I don't care anymore!' she cried.

Odd stood up also, brushing his pants off. He looked at her seriously, and the strange new feeling Sissi had been battling with washed over her again. She gasped, and fought it off. The feeling – it was overwhelming. She forced herself to listen to Odd.

'No,' he was saying seriously. 'I don't think I'll tell anyone.'

'Good,' spat Sissi. 'I didn't mean anything I said, by the way. I was just-just… I didn't know what I was saying, okay?'

Odd half-smiled. 'I know what you mean,' he said lightly. He smirked even wider.

'No! You _don't_! You don't know anything about me! I don't want you to know me!' she screamed. Half of her wanted to kick him, pummel him for listening to her – the other half wanted to… she didn't know what her other half wanted to do. She didn't _want_ to know.

She turned away and started walking. Tomorrow, she would be back to her normal self, she told herself. She would chase after Ulrich, order Herve and Nicolas around, and maybe annoy Yumi a little?

'Wait!'

She half-turned. 'What?' she growled. 'If it's some sort of sympathy advice, I don't want to hear it.'

'It's not. I'm sorry,' he said sincerely. Sissi turned fully to face him, hands on her hips.

'Out with it then,' she said, a trace of her old imperiousness returning.

'Would you like to join our group?' he said very quickly.

'What…?' she said slowly, her brain still trying to comprehend what he said. But inside, her heart was singing.

Odd glared at her. 'You heard.'

'You're… you're not serious,' she whispered, praying that he was. Odd's reply was to glare at her again.

'Did the others say yes? Did _Yumi_ say yes?'

'Well… no, to tell the truth. But we need you,' Odd explained.

'You… need _me_?' she asked, still slightly dazed.

'Look, are you in or not? I'll explain on the way back,' Odd said impatiently.

'Well… yes, of course I'm in, but-'

'Well, let's go then,' Odd said briskly, pulling her away.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'So, you fight an evil computer virus called XANA, in an old abandoned factory on a virtual world called Lyoko, and you need me because Jeremie's been possessed by the virus and Aelita's actually the daughter of this Franz Hopper man?' Sissi said, eyes wide.

Odd nodded wearily.

'Good. When do I start?' she said simply.

'As soon as you like,' he told her. She smiled, her haughty manner quite gone. Well, not _quite_ gone – a trace still remained.

Then they reached the corridor where they parted ways.

'Well… bye then,' Odd said, glad to have had it over with.

'Bye,' Sissi said quietly. Then, as Odd turned to leave, she called out. 'Odd?'

'Yes?'

She stepped forward and hugged him. But only briefly. 'Thanks,' she whispered in his ear. Then she released him, and set off for her dorm.

Odd stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Then he grinned, and walked away for _his_ dorm. Sissi wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Welcome to the group, Sissi,' Aelita said solemnly. Behind her, Odd winked and Ulrich smiled. Shivers went down her spine – but she was no longer sure who they had been triggered by.

They were standing in the scanner room of the abandoned factory. Sissi had to keep pinching herself to make sure it wasn't a dream. A dream come true. She had a life now – four faithful friends… no, make that three.

Opposite, Yumi stared at her, face wiped blank. But in her eyes, a spark of defiance danced. She wasn't speaking to any of the group, and Sissi was the cause.

For some reason, instead of the grim satisfaction Sissi normally felt at the prospect of outsmarting Yumi, Sissi felt sorry. She and Yumi shouldn't start out like this.

'Now, you've got to get into one of the scanners. I'll go up to the supercomputer and scan you, and then you will be an official Lyoko Warrior,' Aelita instructed.

Sissi gulped and looked at the scanners. Then she looked at her new-found friends. 'OK,' she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Yumi snorted softly, and turned away. Ulrich glanced at her irritatedly. She glared back defiantly.

Then Aelita's cool voice sounded from above. 'Get in the scanner now Sissi.'

She stared at the empty scanner. This was it. She took a breath, summoned her courage, and stepped in. There was silence throughout the procedure.

Sissi turned around. The last thing she saw was Ulrich, Odd and Yumi's faces. Two were smiling, one was tight and defiant.

Then the scanner doors closed.

**Yes, I know this chapter was bad. But if you think so too, feel free to tell me anyway, in a – you guessed it – review!**

**And, if you haven't figured it out already, there's going to be hints of OxSi dropped here and there. If you don't like the pairing, I can't help you.**

**See you next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

Sissi jerked awake

Sissi jerked awake. She rubbed her eyes, and looked at her bedside clock. Three am? What had woken her up?

She groaned and rolled over in her bed. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath… wait! What was that noise? She wrinkled her nose. It was muffled, a tinkling, familiar tune – it was her mobile!

She sprang out of bed, and seized her mobile from where it was face-down on her desk.

'SOS XANA' a text message read simply. It was from Odd's number. She looked at, excitement creeping through her veins. She dressed quickly, and ran off to the forest.

There, Ulrich and Odd were waiting. 'You took your time,' Odd grumbled.

'You can't talk, I had to hit you with your pillow before you got up!' said Ulrich indignantly. Sissi laughed.

'Couldn't XANA have picked a better time to attack?' Sissi yawned.

'I wish,' a voice snorted, behind them. Out of reflex, Ulrich spun around in a defensive stance. Yumi was leaning casually against a tree. 'No call for that,' she said, amused.

Ulrich scowled. Apparently their fight wasn't quite over. Sissi smirked at Yumi, and turned back to Ulrich, her regret from yesterday gone.

'Shall we go?' she asked sweetly.

Odd nodded. 'Aelita's already at the factory.'

They set off at a run, Ulrich first, followed by Sissi, Odd and Yumi. Nobody noticed the vines that snaked stealthily after them.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'What was that?' Ulrich said, halfway in the manhole that led to the factory.

Odd shrugged. 'What?'

'I heard something…'

'Probably just the wind,' said Odd reassuringly.

Ulrich relaxed slightly, though his eyes searched the undergrowth intently.

'Hurry up Ulrich, we've got a world to save!' Sissi complained.

'OK,' he said reluctantly, climbing down. Soon he was lost from view.

Ulrich frowned as he took up his skateboard and scooted into the dark sewer. Something was amiss, it was niggling at his mind. He rubbed his eyes. Most likely he was just tired. But still…

He could her Odd whooping, and Sissi crying out in terror as they followed in his wake. He relaxed. All was well, except…

Yumi! Where was Yumi? He strained his ears. Nothing. Dimly he remembered her face not being among those who had looked down at him in the manhole.

Perhaps she had been just hanging back. Perhaps she had been sulking. Perhaps she had simply tripped over.

Perhaps, perhaps. Ulrich didn't trust 'perhaps'. He skidded around, and shot past a surprised Odd. 'Tell Aelita I'll come later!' he called over his shoulder.

Later on, he passed Sissi on her bicycle. She opened her mouth, but Ulrich had already raced past.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Good luck Sissi,' Aelita said, smiling at her from her scanner.

'Thanks… I think,' Sissi replied uncertainly.

'You'll be fine,' reassured Odd. Then the scanner doors closed for the second time in Sissi's life.

She felt herself revolve slowly. A warm wind blew from the scanner floor, her hair flew up. She was dimly aware of herself floating up, up. Then she had the sensation of falling into a black void for one terrifying instant.

The next moment, she was face down on wonderfully solid ground. She groaned, and levered herself up.

A concerned Aelita stood over her. 'You OK?' she asked.

Aelita was dressed in some form of pink and purple jumpsuit. A transparent skirt and shoulder cuffs, along with a wrist adorned with a star bracelet completed the picture.

Odd was sitting on his haunches beside them, purple striped tail swishing gently. He looked like a giant purple cat, if nothing else.

'Yeah… I think,' Sissi said. 'Is that… real?' she added, eyes following Odd's tail.

'Take a look at yourself first, then you can gawp at everyone else,' grinned Odd.

Sissi looked down. She was dressed in some sort of sailor and school uniform crossover. A close fitting sort of cloth swimsuit clung to her body. It was the palest pink. A darker pink bow adorned her chest and the small of her back, and she wore a hot pink miniskirt.

She also wore black boots and pale pink elbow gloves. Her hair had grown and curled, and another pink bow flowed from the top of her head. **(A/N Think of Sissi in a pink Sailor Moon outfit)**

A set of heart earrings and necklace completed the picture. She liked it.

'Where's your weapon?' asked Odd.

'What weapon?' she asked, confused. Odd rolled his eyes.

'We can't exactly defeat the monsters with our superior fashion sense,' he explained, as if talking to a young child. Sissi scowled.

'You mean this?' she asked, pulling some sort of baton from her skirt belt. It was topped by a heart.

Odd eyed it. 'Doesn't look like much.'

She smiled. It fitted her hand perfectly. She raised it, and sent pink sparks shooting out of the end.

Odd raised an eyebrow. 'Sparks? Ooh, scary… ouch!' One of the sparks landed on his tail, which burst into pink flames. He ran around trying to smother the fire, which seemed to not want to go out.

Sissi raised her baton again. This time, a pulsing ray of pink light shot out of the end, destroying a nearby tree. 'OK, no need to show off,' Odd muttered. He had ducked to avoid being liquefied.

'What can _you_ do?' Sissi asked.

'_I_ can do this,' Odd announced, shooting laser arrows out of his paw.

'Where do the arrows _come_ from?' she said, fascinated. Odd coughed.

'I'd rather not say,' he said hurriedly. 'Show her what you can do, Ae!'

Aelita smiled. 'Odd can also detect activated towers, and he has supernatural senses,' she said. 'I can do _this_' – she shot an energy field from her palm – 'and I sing to change the terrain.'

'Wait – you _sing_?' Sissi wanted to know.

'No time for that, we've got to go deactivate that tower!' Odd called, already running.

Aelita frowned slightly. 'It's going to be hard without Ulrich and Yumi,' she murmured.

Sissi shrugged, and ran off after Odd. 'Don't we get vehicles?' she asked.

Aelita nodded, and pointed. There, hovering behind a rock, was a purple hovering board. 'That's _all_?' Sissi asked in disbelief.

Aelita winked. 'Odd forgot it. Shoot your weapon – if memory serves, you should be able to shape the plasma that comes out to your will,' she said, before passing a hand over her bracelet and sprouting pink wings.

Sissi blinked. 'Cool,' she said, before firing her weapon. This time, the pink sparks formed into a cloud. Sissi hesitated, then climbed on. It felt exactly as if she were sitting on a floating bed of the lightest feathers in the world. She willed it forward, and it zoomed away.

She caught up with Aelita. 'Do I have a power like you?' she called.

Aelita nodded. 'You can bend monsters to your will, but it takes all your concentration,' she said back. 'Look, there's the tower,' she said, pointing. Sissi looked.

A beige tower soared to the heavens. The bottom was encrusted with black vines, and a red mist hung about the tower, dissolving into the air.

'Red means XANA, white is Franz Hopper, green is us,' she called over her shoulder as she dived toward it. Sissi nodded.

'Got it,' she said, more to herself than anyone else. 'Now let's go!' Together, plasma and girl shot down to join Aelita and Odd, who had called up his Overboard.

**Yees… I kind of stole the Sailor Moon outfit. Just so we're sure, I don't own it. .**

**I'm very sorry to all the Sissi-haters out there, but Sissi is now officially a Lyoko Warrior. And I don't intend to have her go any time soon.**

**Until next time then! (and review!)**


	9. Chapter 9

Ninth chapter

**Ninth chapter! Oh, I love writing fanfiction. XD**

Ulrich ran through the forest, heedless of the branches and twigs that whipped at his face and clothes. Then he realised he couldn't do much dashing though the forest – it was huge.

Instead, he sat down on the nearest stump, and listened for something, anything, that would tell him where Yumi was.

He closed his eyes. The wind sighed through the trees, in the distance wolves howled. He pushed all thoughts of XANA and Lyoko to the back of his mind, and concentrated on Yumi.

Only Yumi. Her image filled his mind, his nose her scent, his ears her voice, his lips her… he quickly shook himself out of his daydreams, and focused.

Silence for a while. Ulrich began to think the activity was hopeless, when…There! In the distance, a faint cry! Ulrich leapt up, and dashed to the source of the noise.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Sissi was thinking, not concentrating on keeping her makeshift vehicle afloat. She soon paid for this by her cloud of sparks breaking apart, and her and landing directly onto Odd, riding his purple hovering skateboard.

They both tumbled to the ground. When Odd had regained his breath, he stood up angrily. His Overboard had crashed straight into a rock and disintegrated.

'Now look what you've done!' he said, glaring at her, tail swishing.

Sissi opened her mouth to voice a reply when Aelita interrupted her.

'It doesn't matter,' she pointed out. 'We're already there.' She nodded at the activated tower.

'Yes, but _still_,' Odd grumbled. Sissi stuck her tongue out at him.

'So, where are all the monsters?' she asked Aelita. 'Doesn't look like there's anything there – you can just walk straight to the tower and back.'

To prove it, Sissi took a step out from behind the rock where they were sheltering, and walked toward the tower.

'No!' Aelita cried, fully expecting an army of monsters to materialise around her.

But strangely, nothing happened. Sissi reached the tower and rested casually against it, talking all the while. The other two couldn't hear her exactly, but judging by the smug expression on Sissi's face, they probably knew anyway.

'What's up with XANA?' asked Aelita in an undertone to Odd.

'Don't know, but I don't trust this,' he replied. He waved at Sissi to come over. However, she didn't seem to be quite ready to stop rubbing it in that she was right.

'Neither do I,' Aelita replied worriedly. She waved more frantically for Sissi to come over. Then something struck her.

'Odd…' she said slowly. 'Ever get that feeling that you've just walked into a trap?'

'No, why?' Odd said, squinting at Sissi.

'Just think. We've just successfully separated ourselves from Sissi, which is exactly what happened with William,' she said thoughtfully. 'I wonder-'

Odd's eyes widened. 'You're right. I'm going to Sissi right now.'

He made as if to move. But at that moment, the expected army of monsters materialised around _them_.

Directly in front of them, Jeremie smiled, still sitting astride his mutated scorpion.

'New member, I see,' he said, nodding his head at Sissi, who was looking at them, lost for what to do.

Odd mouthed words to her, waved his arms – but nothing attracted her attention. Her eyes wandered over him like he wasn't there.

'Oh, I wouldn't bother with that now,' Jeremie said casually. 'I've made us all invisible. To Pinky over there, it would look like you disappeared into thin air.'

'Now, observe.'

Aelita and Odd watched, horrified, as the twin Scyphozoas floated out from behind the tower. They floated behind Sissi, then advanced, tentacles rising.

Jeremie mock-wiped a tear from his eye. 'Such a touching scene. _So_ sorry, but I can't let you finish watching, I've orders to finish you off ASAP. So, if you could just stand still for a second…'

Odd didn't feel like _standing still_. He felt like marching up to Jeremie and punching his lights out. Jeremie looked at him out of the corner of his eye, cruel amusement written on his face.

'Getting ideas, are we now?'

Odd clenched his paws, unconsciously cocking his arm-gun. Jeremie smiled even wider. 'Kill them,' he said carelessly, then turned to watch the Sissi/Scyphozoa scene.

Odd only had time to see Sissi being raised by two pairs of tentacles. Then he was overwhelmed.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

He had arrived a clearing. In the middle of the clearing, a single tree grew. And held to the tree by vines that had a life of their own, was…

'Yumi,' whispered Ulrich. She had been gagged by a vine, and a tendril was looped lightly around her throat. Still, it didn't stop her fighting to get free.

She bit down hard on her gag, and it retracted momentarily.

'Go and help the others on Lyoko!' she called to Ulrich. 'You can't- ouch –help me now!'

It was true. As soon as Ulrich stepped forward, vines reared up like a nest of snakes. The vine Yumi had bitten had regained its composure, and was fighting to get back around Yumi's mouth.

Yumi was valiantly holding it off with both arms, but she was rapidly weakening.

Ulrich nodded, and turned to leave. 'Ulrich!' Yumi gasped. He turned around.

'I'm… sorry,' she said, before the vines engulfed her once more. The one around her neck tightened visibly, and she fell back, unconscious.

'Yumi,' whispered Ulrich. She had sounded so final. When tore his eyes away from her and looked down, he discovered that some vines had been attempting to wind their way up his legs.

'No you don't,' he growled, kicking them away, and running back to the factory.

It tore him apart to know that he was leaving behind an unconscious Yumi, but he knew that he would've been bound and gagged beside her in a flash if he so much as touched her.

Still… the image of Yumi, so strong and full of life, lolling helplessly against a tree stung him.

Tears pricked his eyes as he climbed the stairs of the sewer, up to the bridge.

Once at the factory, he took in the situation of his friends on Lyoko with one glance of the supercomputer's screen. He immediately started a delayed virtualisation, and ran down to the scanner room.

He virtualised directly beside Sissi and the Scyphozoas. He slashed the Scyphozoas' tentacles apart, imagining them to be Yumi's captors. Then he ran to join his friends in the fray.

'Thank goodness you're here!' called Odd. Ulrich grinned.

'You can't do without me, can you?' he called back.

As he ran toward them, he split into three. They all unsheathed their katanas and ran different ways, one to assist Aelita and Odd in the middle and one each attacking the flanks.

Meanwhile, Sissi was raining pink spark death from above, causing devastation. She had also exercised her new power – some of the monsters turned on their own kind from the result of it.

The cloud of pink sparks she was riding on, however, was blown apart by a jet bolt of lightning. She squealed and fell, hitting the ground hard.

For a moment, she became the spoilt principal's daughter again. She screamed long and loud.

Her ear-splitting shriek distracted Jeremie and the majority of the monsters from the fight, giving her three friends ample time to finish them off.

Jeremie gave a snarl and jumped gracefully off the edge of the sector into the digital sea.

Sissi's scream subsided into a series of sobs. 'You're not even hurt!' Odd told her, amused.

'That's all _you_ know!' she shot back.

'Which is marginally more than what _you_ know,' Odd retorted. Sissi opened her mouth, and, unable to think of a comeback, closed it again.

Ulrich looked worried. 'Can you deactivate the tower now, Aelita?' he asked pointedly.

Aelita nodded, and took off, wings beating steadily. In seconds, she had deactivated the tower and they were all sent back to the real world.

**Yay! Another Yumi-is-in-danger cliffie!**

**So… whatcha think of Sissi's first trip to Lyoko? Do review and tell me what you think of it! .**


	10. Chapter 10

Tenth chapter

**Tenth chapter! You know what that means, right? **_**Ten**_** opportunities to review! So get to it! XD**

**Also, I think I forgot to mention – I come from Australia, so some of the words in my fanfics have alternate spellings to what you might think (e.g. realise, colour, flavour etc.).**

**Now we've got that cleared up, on with the story!**

Ulrich ran back to the clearing where Yumi was imprisoned, Odd, Aelita and Sissi in tow.

There was the tree, standing in the middle of the clearing – there were dead vines everywhere, forming a carpet for the forest floor.

Ulrich searched the scene. She was here, she had to be here – he glimpsed a flash of black among the poisonous green of the vines underneath the tree.

He ran toward it. Yes, it was Yumi all right, but she was unconscious. He tore away the vines clinging to her body. It looked like they had been attempting to smother her. He clutched her hand tightly, willing her awake.

Yumi stirred, eyelids fluttering. She sat up, red welts vivid in her pale face where the vines had stuck. She focused on Ulrich, and blinked a few times. Then she smiled.

'Why does XANA always go for me?' she said ruefully, getting up and brushing herself off. Then her brow crinkled. 'Were you holding my hand?'

'No,' Ulrich said hurriedly, flushing. Yumi laughed. Then she noticed Sissi. Her manner stiffened considerably.

'How's Lyoko?' she asked politely, as if they were discussing nothing more than a trip to her grandmother's.

'Good,' Sissi replied, keeping her tone as sweet as possible. Yumi looked sharply at her, then at her watch.

'I'm lucky my parents are away this week,' she murmured. She glanced up – the sun had just started to rise. 'Well, I'd better get going,' she said, and walked slowly away.

Ulrich nodded. 'Come on,' he called to Sissi and the others. 'We'd better get back too.'

Meanwhile, Odd had been talking quietly to Aelita. 'What are we going to do now?'

Aelita passed a hand over her eyes. 'If only I knew.'

Odd rolled his eyes. 'We've got to find _some_ way of getting Jeremie back!'

Aelita flinched at the sound of Jeremie's name. 'Well, the anti-'zoa idea was pretty good, but-'

'It didn't work, yes, I know,' Odd interrupted. Aelita scowled at him.

'Let me finish! We need something that will suck XANA out of their systems, just not what we tried before – it was too weak. Now that we've lost the element of surprise, it's going to be harder than ever.' Aelita ended in a sigh.

Odd rolled his eyes again. 'And what exactly do you propose to do, ma'am?' he asked.

'I don't know, think of something yourself for once!' Aelita snapped, walking away to follow Ulrich.

Odd blinked. 'Did I say something wrong?'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita sat in a cross-legged in the middle of a small, secret clearing in the forest. She was meditating: an art Ulrich had taught her to clear her mind.

She took deep breaths, and emptied her mind. Soon it was blank of everything.

Save one thing.

Jeremie's face floated across her mind. It smiled at her sweetly. Then the smile turned into a malicious snarl, and his face twisted. It grew larger and larger – in his icy eyes she saw herself, reflected, terrified.

Then her friends' faces materialised beside him, also grinning with a terrible mirth. Their bodies arrived soon after, then the landscape.

They were standing on Lyoko. As Aelita watched, the two Scyphozoas melted out of the air and began to trail toward her. She was rooted to the spot, unable to move. She struggled to cry out, move…

A shimmering white sphere faded into view. It gave off a reassuring feeling to Aelita, made her feel safe. She felt calmer as she watched the sphere melt into Jeremie's body, forcing a slimy-looking smoky black substance out.

The black substance gave a strangled roar, and disintegrated into nothingness. The sphere floated back out of Jeremie's body, and faded into nothing.

Aelita started to see it go. She tried to plead with it to stay, but her body was paralysed. She liked it, liked the feeling of security and that of her responsibilities lifted off her shoulders which it gave her.

Her friends smiled at her, and settled into easy chatter, joking and laughing. The scene changed – they were now sitting in a spotless Hermitage, how it had looked before it went to ruins.

She felt so happy, so carefree – but there was one thing missing. 'Daddy,' Aelita thought. Suddenly, a blinding white light filled the room, rendering everything invisible.

The white light compressed into a slender, pink figure. Herself. It was the only thing in sight. Her reflection held out her hand, smiling mysteriously.

'Push, don't pull,' her twin whispered, staring at her intensely with burning green eyes. Then she vanished.

Aelita jerked awake, sweating. She was shocked to discover tears coursing down her face, mingling with the sweat. She looked at her watch, and was shocked to learn it was almost midnight.

She took a minute to calm down, stood up, and walked back to school, deep in thought.

Once in her room, she took a piece of paper and a pen, and recorded her vision as closely as she could. She reread it, then yawned and glanced at the clock

She would look at it and try to interpret it tomorrow, she decided, with the help of her friends.

Then she stumbled into bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**End of the tenth chapter! Hope you liked it!**


	11. Chapter 11

Eleventh chapter

**I'm going to be updating way faster now – it's the holidays! XD (well, it is for me…)**

'Maybe your twin wants you to push your homework grades forward instead of pulling them back,' Odd suggested lazily.

Aelita spun around to glare at him. Odd quailed.

'Maybe it was XANA,' mused Yumi.

Aelita shook her head. 'XANA couldn't have made me feel the way I did,' she said wearily – this was the fifth time she had explained it. 'No, I think it was trying to tell us how to get Jeremie back.'

'What, by _pushing_?' Odd snorted. Aelita glared at him again.

She was starting to wonder why she had told her friends her vision – all they had come up with were the same suggestions over and over again and ridiculous suggestions like the one Odd had made previously.

'It makes it sound like what _we've_ been doing is pulling, but we need to _push_…' Ulrich offered.

'And you think I don't know that?' Aelita snapped at him. Seeing the hurt look on his face, she softened.

'I'm sorry. It's just… so _frustrating_!' she ended almost in a yell. Odd winced.

'What's so frustrating?' Sissi asked, seating herself beside them – they were sitting on and around a bench. They looked at her blankly.

'You tell her,' Aelita said shortly. 'I'm going for a walk.' She stood up and stalked away.

Sissi turned back to the others with a raised eyebrow.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'I'm telling you, it's a XANA trick to put us off track,' Odd assured Aelita, yawning. After a few days of fruitless guesses, the group was starting to give up.

'It ISN'T!' shouted Aelita. Odd looked taken aback by her outburst. Aelita stared at him, breathing heavily.

'It isn't and I know it,' Aelita said more quietly. '_Think_! We can't just give up after a few days!'

'Well, unless it's a suggestion on how to open doors, we're all just about ready to!' Odd retorted.

Aelita stared at him, tears in her eyes. None of them understood how powerful the vision was! How _real_ it was, they hadn't experienced it! If they had, they would have listened to her every word, and believed them.

She whirled around, and walked out Odd's dormitory door where they group had been.

As she slammed the door behind her, she heard a distant voice tell Odd, 'You shouldn't have said that.'

She heard Odd retort, 'It's not my fault she's so touchy!' She had heard enough. She ran down the corridor for the sanctuary of her room.

Once at her room, she reached into her pillowcase and drew out three photographs. One was of herself surrounded by her friends – she put this aside without a second glance.

The next one was of her parents – she had found it lying underneath a chest of drawers at the Hermitage. It was very blurry and indistinct – she could barely make out their faces. But she could see they were standing in a sunlit clearing.

She treasured it all the same. She looked at it for a minute before putting it aside as well.

The last photo she looked at the longest. It was of her and Jeremie, taken at a photo booth. Jeremie had an arm draped around her shoulders, and was grinning like the nerd he was.

The photograph Aelita was smiling tentatively at the camera. The present Aelita remembered what it had felt like to be in Jeremie's arms – pleasantly dizzy. She wished with all her being that they could have Jeremie back.

She kissed the photo, and then slipped it and the others back into her pillowcase.

Just in time. The door swung open, and Odd stumbled in. He scowled over his shoulder at something, and switched his scowl to Aelita.

Aelita stared back defiantly. After a minute or so of such behaviour, Aelita broke the silence. 'What?'

Odd scowled even darker. 'I'm… sorry,' he said ungraciously. Aelita raised an eyebrow.

'No, you're not. But I appreciate the thought,' she said coldly. They eyed each other again. Odd opened his mouth to voice a reply, but at that moment a beeping sound went off, and Aelita's computer screen flashed.

'Activated tower,' murmured Aelita. Without another word, she ran out. Odd, after a moment's hesitation, did the same.

He ran to his dorm. There Ulrich was lounging on his bed. He looked up expectantly. 'Well?'

Odd made a face. 'Didn't go quite as planned… but there's an activated tower, we've got to get to the factory!'

Ulrich sighed and jumped up. 'I'll-'

'Get Yumi,' finished Odd, grinning. 'While you're at it, get Sissi too!' He left as quickly as he had arrived.

Ulrich shook his head. 'That boy knows me too well,' he muttered, heading for the door and pulling his mobile out on the way.

He ran down the corridors, texting Yumi on the way. He finally stopped at the door of Sissi's room. 'Why couldn't Aelita have gotten her?' grumbled Ulrich as he rapped on her door.

It swung open immediately. 'Ulrich, sweetie!' gushed Sissi when she saw who it was.

'No time for that, there's a XANA attack,' said Ulrich shortly. He seized her wrist and pulled her away, protesting all the time.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi arrived, panting, at the scanner room. She stopped outside a scanner.

'Ready,' she said to thin air.

'OK. I'll start the virtualisation process and I'll come down later,' Aelita's voice replied. Yumi smiled, and stepped into her scanner.

After a bit, she heard footsteps. Aelita. Then a familiar warm wind swept through Yumi's hair. She closed her eyes.

When she reopened them, she was the ice sector, with Ulrich, Odd and Sissi standing around her. Above them, Aelita was forming.

As Aelita fell down, their vehicles materialised beside them. Odd jumped on his Overboard, and sped off, with the others in tow.

Odd's leadership was accurate. They arrived directly at an activated tower.

'Surround the monsters,' called Odd. They all zoomed around to form a circle around the distorted air around the tower.

As if on cue, the monsters shimmered into view. The company was made up entirely of the scorpion-like monsters, or 'pseudoscorpions' as Aelita titled them after a biology lesson on the arachnid family.

There were about ten in all. 'They've been busy,' Odd observed. 'Last we heard, there were only two.'

The monsters parted respectfully to reveal Jeremie, impeccable as ever. He smiled.

'We have strategy,' he said, observing the Lyoko warriors at their different stations. When they tensed, ready to fight, he smiled. 'Don't worry, I come in peace. I have come to offer you something.'

Odd snorted. Jeremie ignored him. The Lyoko warriors relaxed ever so slightly, but still remained watchful.

He winked at Sissi. 'I don't believe we've been properly introduced,' he said to her. Sissi blinked. This wasn't the XANA she expected. She smiled.

'Sissi Delmas, at your service,' she said, fluttering her eyelashes. Odd rolled his eyes.

'Spare me,' he said loudly.

Jeremie flicked his fingers at Odd without looking. Odd nimbly dodged the black lightning sent to him, and settled back into his previous pose.

'I do believe we could work together,' Jeremie said, looking at her intensely. Those eyes… they held her, trapped.

He moved closer. 'Think about it… you and me…' he whispered. To Sissi, this was the most sensible thing she had ever heard.

He touched her chin gently with two fingers, forcing her to look at him. She felt dizzy. Her eyes half closed, and she nearly fainted there and them.

He's evil, don't listen to him, she told herself over and over again. She made a feeble attempt to free herself. Jeremie chuckled.

'We can't have that, can we?' asked Jeremie softly. He moved even closer, and his free arm went around her waist. Their faces were inches apart.

Then an unearthly sound, terrible and piercing, rent the air. A huge fiery pink ball of pure energy slammed into Jeremie, forcing him away from Sissi.

Aelita released another sphere of raging energy, this time slicing through the monsters. The monsters retaliated likewise. The battle began.

As their eye contact was broken, Sissi regained control. What was she _thinking_? It had felt so right at the time… but now she was repulsed at even the _thought_ of touching Jeremie.

She shook herself. No time for that now. She flipped her baton easily out of her skirt belt, and set to.

**Ooh… mysterious… and there's still that riddle of pushing and pulling to figure out!**

**Do tell me what you think about it! **


	12. Chapter 12

Now

**Now… where was I… ah yes. XANA appears to have gained some sort of hypnotisation, and is attempting to recruit Sissi. If I remember correctly, I left off right on the edge of a battle scene…**

Aelita screamed again, her head thrust back.

This time, instead of unleashing small spheres out of her palms, a shimmering pink force field burst out of her, pushing all the monsters around her, which in turn pushed the monsters around _them_, who fell into the digital sea.

Odd raised an eyebrow at Ulrich, who was closest. 'She's angry,' he said, indicating Aelita with a claw, while booting some Kankrelats into the digital sea.

'Mm,' Ulrich agreed, looking at Yumi, who was valiantly fighting off three Bloks simultaneously, and executing multiple cartwheels and other gymnastics. Ulrich himself was keeping up a flashing dance with his sabres, not looking at either of them.

Odd followed Ulrich's line of vision, and grinned. 'Wake up Romeo, I'm sure Yumi's a very nice view, but we've got a world to save, remember?'

Ulrich blinked, and tore his eyes away. 'Oh, uh, right. Yeah,' he muttered. However, Odd noticed Ulrich continued to glance up at her.

Odd shook his head, still grinning. Young love.

Meanwhile, Sissi was still shaken by her experience with Jeremie. After Jeremie had been hit by Aelita's fearsome energy ball, he had vanished, leaving a red tinted black wireframe.

Her distraction caused her to stand still doing absolutely nothing for short periods of time. After the fifth time she caught herself at it, she gave up hand-to-hand fighting and shot some sparks into the air, where they tumbled lazily down to deal hot pink destruction.

She watched them fall, keeping her baton pointed so there was a continuous stream of sparks pouring on the monsters.

Then she switched her gaze to Ulrich. He looked good, in his yellow and brown bodysuit, and his swords. Who knew he could fight like that? She determinedly avoided looking at Yumi.

But she couldn't stop her gaze drifting over to Odd, who was grinning maniacally as he danced among his adversaries.

The problem with Ulrich, Sissi thought, is that he has next to no sense of humour. **(A/N Not true. Sissi just doesn't know him too well as of then.)** Then she shook herself, shocked.

What was she _thinking_? There _was_ no problem with Ulrich… Sissi sighed. It wasn't working. She watched Odd some more before she realised her baton had drifted off course, and was showering on the digital void instead.

She hastily corrected her aim. But it was too late – all the monsters had been finished off.

Aelita walked calmly toward the tower. She dissolved into it, leaving but a few ripples in her wake.

Sissi watched her go blearily. She suddenly had a blinder of a headache.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'I still say it's a command on how to open doors,' announced Odd, flopping on his bed.

Aelita scowled at him. They were, once again, discussing her vision in Odd and Ulrich's dorm.

'I told you, it's got to be a way on how to rid Jeremie and William of XANA!' she said heatedly.

Yumi and Ulrich had gone to their usual sparring session. Sissi had tagged along, much to Yumi's displeasure, and Aelita was starting to wish she had gone with them.

Odd yawned extravagantly. 'Well, maybe you should push XANA out of their bodies, instead of pulling him,' he suggested, clearly disinterested.

Aelita opened her mouth to voice a biting reply, when it struck her in a blinding flash of realisation. Her eyes widened, hardly daring to believe it was true.

'_Push_ XANA out…' she breathed. 'Why didn't I think of that!'

She jumped up, and kissed Odd soundly on the cheek. 'Thank you!' she yelled over her shoulder as she ran out, headed for her own room.

She let out a peal of laughter as she ran, half inspired by the look on Odd's face, half by the pure joy she could barely contain at solving the riddle.

It was so _simple_… the white sphere she had envisioned had _pushed_ XANA out of their bodies… and what had she been doing but creating an anti-Scyphozoa to pull XANA out?

She had reached her desk when her euphoria faded. She couldn't just make herself a sphere and push XANA out of their systems…

Her momentary depression vanished. She would figure that out later. But now, she needed to tell the others.

She reached into her bag, and texted her friends' numbers.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'And today class, we will be studying the Wars of the Roses. They began in 1453, when…'

Aelita wasn't paying any attention at all to the class. Instead she was voicing suggestions to Ulrich and Odd, sitting behind her.

'Well, the only way I can see is to make myself or one of you into a sort of 'essence bubble',' she told them quietly. 'You will have complete control over your 'bubble', so you could just float into Jeremie's body, but the problem is Jeremie didn't leave anything that indicated he even _knew_ what an essence bubble is…' her voice trailed off.

Odd rolled his eyes. 'Come on Aelita, there isn't a rule that if Jer didn't discover it, it doesn't exist.'

'Yeah,' Ulrich put in. 'You're just as smart as Jeremie, you could do it!'

Aelita blinked. 'I wouldn't say that-'

'Miss Stones, fifth time this week. This isn't like you at all,' the teacher interrupted coldly. Aelita spun around.

Aelita flushed, and looked down at her blank sheet. The teacher walked over, and looked at it too.

'Where are your notes?' the teacher asked, knowing perfectly well Aelita had not written them down.

Aelita stayed silent.

'Principal's office. Now.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'I got detention,' Aelita told her friends, who were waiting in her room.

They all were sympathetic. 'Don't worry, detention isn't as bad as you think,' Odd told her cheerfully.

Aelita looked at him miserably. Her first detention. What was she _doing_ to herself? As Yumi kicked Odd in the shins, and Odd yelped, nobody noticed Sissi slip out unseen.

**At last, the plot's had a major turning point… Tell me what you think of it!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Just a small note – it was too inconvenient to the storyline if XANA had destroyed Franz Hopper's diaries. So his disk diaries live. **

'Hey, where's Sissi?' Odd asked, looking around. All of them shrugged except Yumi shrugged. Yumi's expression didn't change.

'H-here,' Sissi gasped, arriving in the doorway. She leant against the doorframe, feeling light-headed and nauseous. Everyone looked at her concernedly.

'I got D-daddy to lift th-the detention,' Sissi said. Why was the room starting to spin? All the colours were blurring into one massive streak of light.

Sissi saw Odd's face whirl past her, distorted by her vision. She giggled weakly. He looked funny. Then she sank to the ground, unconscious.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'I'm pretty sure it's just an after-effect of Jeremie's hypnotisation,' Aelita said, although she still looked worried. They had just taken Sissi to the infirmary.

'Well, she _was_ complaining about a headache earlier,' Yumi remembered. 'And why were you looking at me on Lyoko?' she added to Ulrich.

He flushed. 'No reason,' he mumbled, and rushed out, muttering about the bathroom.

Yumi frowned. 'But the bathroom's that way.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

A few days later, Aelita was looking disastrous. Huge black rings encircled her eyes, and it looked like she wasn't eating.

When she sat down for breakfast next to her friends, she announced, 'I've gotten a small lead on the essence bubble idea.'

They all stared at her, shocked by her appearance. She continued on, nonplussed.

'Well, my father' – here her voice trembled slightly – 'appears as multiple white essence bubbles on Lyoko. He might have mentioned something about it in his diaries.'

Then she noticed the others' gazes.

'What?' she asked, selfconsciously touching her face.

Odd stood up, and dragged her to the nearest mirror.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'She so weak she nearly passed out… lack of food, most likely,' Odd said, flopping into his previous seat. 'I took her to Yolande.'

Now both Sissi and Aelita were in the infirmary. Ulrich sighed. 'Well, there's no point continuing now.'

At that point, Yumi arrived. 'Hey guys,' she said. 'Where's Ae?'

PARAGRAPH BREAK **(A/N There are a lot of paragraph breaks in this chapter, aren't there?)**

'But there's nothing wrong with me!' Aelita insisted.

'Well, your friend said you weren't eating or sleeping,' the nurse said absentmindedly, bending over Sissi. '_And_ you nearly fainted,' she added meaningfully.

'Really, I'm fine,' Aelita told her, making a mental note to herself to beat up Odd when she got back.

Yolande turned to look at her. She passed a cool hand over her forehead. 'Well, you seem well enough,' she said doubtfully. 'OK, you can go. But you've got to eat more,' she said severely.

Aelita nodded and bounded out the door, not bothering to say thank you. Yolande had already bent back over Sissi.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'_Why_ did you have to give me in to Yolande? I could've been working on the bubble!' Aelita finally exploded when she found Odd in the park.

Odd shook his head. 'Do you know how terrible you looked? You looked like a banshee!'

Aelita was still furious. 'You knew perfectly well that I was all right!'

'You didn't _look_ it,' Odd retorted. 'And "all right" people don't pass out!'

'Yes, but you didn't have to take me to _Yolande_! And I didn't pass out!'

'Well, if this is what I get for caring, I won't next time!' Odd said, rising to his feet with an angry blush on his face.

'Great! It'll do me no end of good!'

'Fine!' Odd stalked off. 'Just go and fiddle with your stupid essence bubbles then!'

'Those _stupid essence bubbles_ are our only chance to get Jeremie back!' Aelita yelled after him. She was crying, but she didn't know quite why.

Odd's voice drifted back to her, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

She sat down with a thump. She didn't know how long she sat there, but when she got up again it was already dark.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

As Aelita passed Odd's dorm she heard raised voices.

'_Why_ do you have to go and fight with Aelita so often?' Ulrich's voice came angrily.

'You can't talk, look at you and Yumi!'

'That's irrelevant! If we lose Aelita, we've got no chance!'

Odd laughed harshly. 'And if we lose _me_, we lose nothing, is that it?'

'No! That's not what I meant!'

The door was wrenched open. Odd walked out, and spotted Aelita. 'Just like you to listen outside doors,' he said sourly, and walked off.

'Have fun with your date with _Sissi_,' he called over his shoulder at Ulrich.

'It's not a date! I'm just going to see how she is!' Ulrich shouted, aggravated, but Odd gave no indication that he had heard.

Aelita caught a movement on the corner of her eye. She turned around, just in time to see the flash of hurt in Yumi's eyes as she ran away.

'I think Yumi heard,' Aelita said to Ulrich quietly, nodding after the quickly diminishing black figure.

Ulrich looked up. He swore, jumped up, and chased after her, calling her to stop.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

It was a complete nightmare. Odd wasn't speaking to anybody, least of all Aelita and Ulrich. Ulrich and Yumi were fighting again, and Sissi was still in the infirmary.

On top of that, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd had all been given detention for shouting in the corridors. Since Aelita missed out on punishment, Odd's dislike for her grew even more.

And Aelita _still _hadn't found anything. She picked up the last disk of Franz Hopper's diary.

'Here goes nothing,' she said dully, sliding the disk into her computer.

She watched the disk. Nothing. She was frustrated to the point of screaming. Oh wait, she had already gone past that point. She laughed dully at the feeble joke.

She reached the end of the clip, and was reaching to pull the disk out when – what was that?

At the end of the disk, Franz Hopper's face was briefly replaced by a white flash.

She slowly wound back, watching it frame by frame.

There. The white flash. It was a completely white screen, except for one thing.

A folder marked 'Essence Bubbles'.

**Ooh! A **_**big**_** cliffie!**

**Hope you liked it!**


	14. Chapter 14

Aelita stared at the computer screen, nearly hyperventilating

Aelita stared at the computer screen, nearly hyperventilating. She couldn't believe it.

Even the thought of her friends, who weren't talking to her – Odd because they were fighting, Yumi because she tended to get snappy at anybody when she was fighting with Ulrich, Ulrich because he was too distracted with the problem of Sissi and Yumi – didn't dampen her euphoria.

She moved the mouse to hover over the folder. She felt like it was a dream – any moment now, and the dream would be shattered, and she would be hurled back into reality.

She tapped the mouse twice, holding her breath. A video clip came up, featuring Franz Hopper, much like the ones in his diary.

As she waited for the video to load, instead of being nearly insane with anticipation, she was strangely calm.

It was so strange, seeing her father on her computer screen, wanting to reach out for him. He seemed so close – only a few centimetres of glass separated them.

Of course, she knew she was being silly. But a sense of longing still prevailed.

A notice flashed up to tell her the video had finished loading. She caught her breath, and clicked 'Play.'

Franz Hopper started moving, his deep voice emanated from the computer speakers.

'_If you are watching this, I dearly hope you are pure of heart, and will use the following information wisely, for in XANA's hands, it is a cruel weapon indeed._

_I have not guarded this folder as carefully as I should have, I fear, but I feel that if you have taken the time to find this folder, I should not aggravate you further._' – Aelita agreed heartily, and loved her father more and more.

'_I am here to inform you on a hypothetical situation, in which the user is able to render themselves immune to attacks on Lyoko, and possess, for lack of a better term, other sentient beings on Lyoko._

_This, when used correctly, can successfully push XANA out of peoples' systems._

_It is called an 'Essence Bubble.'_

The video took a long time, but at last Aelita finished it. She now had a power to wield against XANA, instead of being helpless as of before.

She felt like dancing down the hall, singing and cartwheeling. She felt like she could soar to the stars, and come back. Fortunately, she resisted the urge to try.

The video left a few minor gaps, but no doubt Aelita could figure them out in due time.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita felt happier then she had in months. 'Hi everyone!' she said brightly, dumping her laden lunch tray onto their usual table. Nobody answered.

She surveyed them. Ulrich and Yumi were sitting stubbornly as far away from each other as possible, frowns on both faces, crossed arms, the whole picture.

Occasionally they would glance up at each other, only to resume their previous expression, and hunch further away.

She looked around, and spotted Odd on a table further away, deliberately avoiding them. He sat down on a table full of his previous dates, flirting with them and joking. However, at the times of silence, his face was morose, shovelling food down his throat.

Sissi had finally been let out of the infirmary, and was looking torn between joining Odd on his table, and staying in the suffocating silence on the table she was on currently.

It didn't take her long to make the decision, helped along as she was by Yumi's pointed glares. She took up her breakfast table, and sat next to Odd.

Odd smiled at her, and struck up a conversation. Aelita, on her part, cautiously sat down next to Yumi, and directly opposite Ulrich.

Yumi raised her head, staring straight at Ulrich contemptuously. 'Why don't you go and follow her like the good boyfriend you are? I'm sure you'll have more fun than what you're having _now_,' she spat at Ulrich.

Ulrich looked wounded for a minute, before anger clouded his handsome features. 'I'm not her boyfriend,' he said through gritted teeth.

Yumi snorted disbelievingly, and gave a mirthless chuckle. She shoved her food away from her. 'You know what? I don't even care now. Do what you want. It doesn't concern me, and I don't want it to.' With that, she swept away.

Even though Yumi was keeping up a good pretence of being uncaring and haughty, which was her way of expressing anger, Aelita could tell she was on the verge of tears.

Ulrich realised that too, staring sadly after her. He didn't bother chasing after her – she would only run faster. All his anger evaporated, and he picked dully at his food, before shoving it away from him as well. He stood up, and headed for his room.

Aelita found she had suddenly lost both her appetite and her joy at finding Jeremie's cure. After all, what was the point of making discoveries if you didn't have anybody to share it with?

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Odd's mobile vibrated in his pocket, before his customary message tone bleeped out. He tugged it out, and stared at the screen.

'_We need to talk. Meet me in my room after school,'_ the text message read. It was from Aelita. Odd stared at it some more, and snorted. No chance he was going to go to her room, not after the way she had treated him.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Sissi went to the bathroom, troubled. She had never been in the midst a real friendship fight before, much less at the centre. Perhaps because she hadn't had any real friends.

As she splashed her face with cold water, her mobile started singing its familiar SMS tune. She hastily dried herself, and looked at her message.

It was from Aelita, asking to meet her in her room after school. Sissi pocketed her mobile, and left, thinking.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi stared at the sky, tears dripping down her face. She was lying on the long grass in the forest.

If what she felt about Ulrich _was_ true love, how was it that they fought so often? It wasn't right.

She shook her head. Only one solution. She _wasn't_ in love with Ulrich. But then, how could she explain the melting feeling she experienced in her body when she looked in his beautiful eyes?

The way she wanted to hug him whenever he was around, and when he smiled she felt like she was in heaven.

The tears came harder. Why, of all the people to like, she had to choose Ulrich?

Before she could muse further, her mobile vibrated. She pulled it out dully, and looked at it.

After reading the message, she got up, brushing herself off. Then she called her house, asking for permission to stay back after school.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'_Dear Yumi, I'm really sorry about everything, and I would really like to be friends again.'_

'No, it's more than "really like",' Ulrich muttered, crossing it out and writing "love" in its place.

He reread it, shaking his head. No way would she fall for a stupid line like that. He screwed it up, and hurled it into the bin. He got out a fresh sheet of paper, and groaned. Literature was his least favourite subject.

He wrote another apology letter to Yumi, and looked it over. His handwriting was atrocious, nothing like the flowing calligraphy writing Yumi used. He hated himself.

He scrunched up that attempt too, and threw it away. Why was it so hard to just admit that he loved her?

How much he wanted to sweep her into his arms, and hold her forever… but whenever he plucked up the courage to go up to her, it faded in the face of her beauty.

'_I think it's just best to remain friends,'_ Yumi's voice floated into his mind, accompanied by her image looking at him anxiously. He groaned, and knuckled his forehead painfully.

_Why_ had she said that? Obviously because she didn't think he was much of a boyfriend. But then, why had he agreed? He _knew_ that, given the chance, he could be everything to her, as she was to him.

His mobile gave out a tone, telling him an SMS had arrived, and breaking through his misery. He grabbed it, and scanned the message quickly.

He smiled wearily. At least the day wouldn't be all dreary.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Sorry I'm late Aelita, I had to-' Yumi broke off, staring at the other two occupants.

Ulrich and Sissi gazed back, unmoving, Ulrich pleading, Sissi indifferent.

'Well, _that_ changes things,' Yumi said stiffly, turning to leave. Aelita caught at her sleeve.

'You've got to stay,' she said firmly but gently. 'I've found a way to cure Jeremie.' Hearing the words aloud re-ignited the fierce joy she had felt when she first discovered it.

Yumi's eyes widened, and she took in a sharp breath. 'You're sure?' Behind her, Ulrich bore a similar expression, while Sissi only looked mildly interested – since she had passed out, she had become dreamy, and less inclined to talk. Aelita assured her it would wear off in due time. Sissi didn't really care.

'Yes, I'm sure,' Aelita said, smiling. 'Now we wait for Odd.'

'I don't think he's coming,' Sissi told them dreamily. 'Yesterday he asked Claire Girard out on a date, and said he would pick her up around this time.'

Aelita stared at her. 'Even after he got my message?'

'Actually, I think he asked Claire out _because_ you sent that message,' Sissi replied, unperturbed by the amount of emotion she had aroused.

'You're joking,' Yumi said in disbelief. 'Even an idiot like _Odd_ wouldn't do something like that.'

'He would,' Ulrich said wearily. 'It's partly my fault too,' he added. Yumi hesitated, seemed to consider something, then scowled and crossed her arms.

'I've got to tell you all,' Aelita said worriedly, not noticing Yumi.

'I'll go get him,' Sissi offered. 'I overheard where they're going.'

Aelita looked at her gratefully. 'Great. If you don't mind, I'll fill Yumi and Ulrich in while you're gone.'

'Great,' replied Sissi, drifting nonchalantly out the door.

**I do declare my chapters are getting longer… if they are getting too long, do tell me, won't you?**

**Anyway, end of chapter 14! D**


	15. Chapter 15

Just a word

**Just a word… in the previous chapter, change 'Sissi took up her breakfast table' to 'Sissi took up her lunch.' Thank you!**

'You're sure?' Yumi whispered, eyes wide. Aelita had just told her and Ulrich what she had come to say.

'Yes. Unfortunately, Daddy didn't leave any instructions on how to make the bubble immune on Lyoko – that would have been too easy.' Aelita sighed.

'Who cares? We'll protect whoever the bubble is!' Ulrich said, grinning. Yumi nodded her agreement. Just then, a soft beeping emanated from the pink computer in the corner.

Aelita rushed over to it. 'Activated tower,' she murmured to the others.

'Will we test the essence bubbles out now?' Yumi enquired.

Aelita shook her head. 'I need to create the program first, and test it. I'll probably be ready in a couple of weeks.'

'Great! Let's go to the factory!' Ulrich said, tugging out his mobile and calling Sissi. 'Hello? Sissi? Yes, it's me. What? He _did_? Oh… well, there's an activated tower… yes. Meet you there!' He hung up, and looked at the others' expectant faces. 'You will not believe what Odd just did.'

_Earlier that day_

Sissi was not happy. She had already stubbed her toe twice in the dark of the movie theatre, and her plan to sneak in without paying had been utterly useless. On top of that, she couldn't find Odd anywhere.

Then she had a brainwave. She crept up to the back of the theatre, and watched the occupants' hair. She scanned around slowly…there! There was no mistaking the extravagant point of Odd's hair.

She trotted toward it, glancing up at the movie as she went. Some mushy romance was going on – a beautiful girl was crying dramatically in the rain. Of course, Sissi thought dryly, her sweetheart would emerge and make all things right with a passionate declaration of how he had always loved her etc. Movies like this always bored Sissi – she fought the urge to yawn.

She was nearly at Odd and Claire's seat. Odd had just put his arm around Claire in an exaggerated yawn. Claire giggled. Sissi rolled her eyes. _So_ cliché.

She crept up to the back of Odd's seat. 'Odd!' she hissed, tugging at his clothes.

He whipped around. 'Sissi?' he asked disbelievingly. 'What are you _doing_ here?' Beside him, Claire stirred to also look at Sissi, surprised.

'You really need to come, everyone's waiting for you,' she hissed, without a glance at Claire. Odd's face changed as he understood why Sissi had come.

'I don't want anything to do with anybody like _you_ until you apologise,' he spat, tightening his grip around Claire's shoulders. Sissi shot him a pleading look.

'You have to! It's about Jeremie!'

Odd hesitated, the briefest look of regret crossed his face. Then it hardened. 'Who cares? You all can do fine without me, that's the impression I'm getting!'

'Sissi, please go away,' Claire whispered. Sissi spluttered, outraged.

'Listen, you can't just tell me to go away! You know perfectly well that we need you just like anybody else, so would it be too much to ask for you to just put your selfishness aside?' she asked, voice getting shriller.

Odd laughed. 'Is that what you think of me? Well. I thought you were the best of them all – evidently I was wrong.'

'I-what?'

'Look at you all! How can you work together, when you're always fighting? It's pointless and stupid, and you all treat each other like dirt! We only recruited _you_ because we were desperate!'

'Well, you might as well just go and join XANA right now!' Sissi retorted loudly, not caring if people heard. The people closest to them hushed them irritably. It didn't help that on the screen the couple were now kissing passionately.

'You know what? Even XANA can't be worse than what you are now!' Odd said back, not caring that Claire was looking from one of them to the other confusedly.

Sissi gaped, shocked. 'Well, I think-' she began shrilly. Then she stopped. Odd had just pulled Claire into a kiss, mimicking what was on screen. Sissi flushed, turned her heel and stalked out, unable to think of anything further to say.

How _dare_ he? He just as much said he would join XANA if he could! Sissi continued to rage about Odd in her head, but she realised another reason for her annoyance with Odd – something she didn't recognise at first.

The image of Claire and Odd kissing floated past in her mind. She mentally slapped herself. As _if_ I'm jealous, she scoffed at herself. Then her mobile started singing, and she hastily pulled it out.

After her conversation, she put it back and ran away for the factory.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Ready?' Aelita's voice floated throughout the scanner room.

'Ready,' called back Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi, stepping into a scanner each.

'OK. I'll start the virtualisation process.'

A few minutes later, the whole team minus Odd and Jeremie were on Lyoko. Aelita took a bit longer than usual to arrive; she was checking the exact location of the tower.

'That way,' she said, indicating the direction with one delicate finger.

'No vehicles?' asked Yumi. Aelita shook her head.

'There wasn't time,' she explained, before running off. Yumi shrugged at Ulrich, and went in pursuit.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'What was that all about?' Claire whispered to Odd. Sissi had just left, and she looked very upset.

'Don't worry,' Odd told her absentmindedly, a frown crinkling his brow.

'Well, if _Sissi_ _Delmas_ comes all the way to fetch you, it must've been something important,' Claire persisted.

'Look, it's none of your business, OK? Just keep out of it!' Odd snapped at her. He instantly looked shocked at himself. 'No, wait, Claire, that came out wrong-'

But Claire was already rising to her feet. 'You're not Odd anymore,' she told him angrily. 'And I don't like who you've become.' With that, she stalked out of the theatre. Odd stared after her.

'Women!' he said angrily, but he couldn't help but note that what she and Sissi had said were true.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Uh… Aelita? I can see a tower, but it's not activated,' said Ulrich. It was true. In front of them, a white mist floated around the tower.

'XANA,' hissed Aelita. 'He _knows_ we don't have Odd here to lead us around.' She cursed viciously.

'Wait…' Yumi said slowly. 'What's that?' She was pointing at the mist around the tower.

At first, the mist looked purely white, but now and then a virulent streak of red showed through, before fading as quickly as it had come. Aelita cocked a brow. 'I'd better check it out.' She took a step forward.

Then Jeremie materialised in front of her. 'Not so fast, dear Aelita.'

Aelita stared at him coolly. 'Not with your horde of monsters, I see.'

'No,' Jeremie agreed, smiling pleasantly.

'That's… great.' Aelita struggled to keep her voice steady. Jeremie was _right in front of her_, smiling at her. She longed to reach out, touch him, with a yearning so terrible she could barely contain it.

'No,' Jeremie continued. 'I am here with a warning. Cease your irritations now – what we have been doing is merely toying with you. We know what you are about to do, and have already prepared a plan to stop it.' His voice had acquired a monotone, his eyes were glazed.

Then he snapped back into focus. 'And meanwhile, I imagine your friends have been taken captive by my trusty monsters,' he said, grinning the sort of grin a shark gives a hapless fish.

Aelita whipped around. There were Ulrich and Yumi, one held in each of a Pseudo's claws. 'Don't listen to him!' shouted Yumi. The Pseudo's tail waved menacingly over her head, and the claw around her waist tightened cruelly. She cried out, and went silent. Ulrich grunted and redoubled his efforts to free himself.

Aelita turned back to Jeremie, her eyes filling with unshed tears. Nice to know tear glands worked on Lyoko. 'I knew you once,' she whispered. She could contain herself no longer, she reached out and stroked Jeremie's cheek. It was as cold as ice.

She knew it was pointless talking to him, but she could at least try her hardest. 'I knew who you were, and I loved you. Come back to me Jeremie… I love you,' Aelita whispered. She cupped his face in her hands. He looked vaguely shocked, and seemed to struggling with some internal battle. Then he smiled, a sincere, beautiful smile that sent shivers down Aelita's spine.

'Aelita,' he gasped out, looking at her with love in his eyes. 'Aelita…' he murmured again, tasting the words on his lips. He reached out to touch her cheek…

And jerked forward, choking. He struggled against some invisible force, and managed to get one hand free. With that hand he dismissed the Pseudo. While it vanished, Yumi and Ulrich fell to the ground.

Jeremie doubled over. Aelita cried out, reached forward to help him… and he threw his head back and released an unearthly scream. She jerked backwards in shock.

'Aelita… I love you,' Jeremie choked out hoarsely, before doubling back over.

'Jeremie!' cried Aelita. He straightened abruptly with a snarl. Aelita glimpsed the terrible sign of XANA pulsating in his eyes with terrible power, before she was knocked back by a bolt of black lightning.

Her last conscious thought was '_He loves me…_'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Odd remained in the theatre, even after the movie had finished. He waited in the dark for who knew how long. Then, when he was considering the prospect of leaving, a voice spoke. It was harsh, grating, as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

'_Odd Della Robbia_,' it said. Odd turned around. On the screen was a pulsating XANA sign. Odd swore under his breath.

'_Do not fear. I am not going to harm you,_' it said, with a hint of terrible amusement. Odd relaxed slightly, but he remained on guard.

'_I am here to deliver a message._'

'Go on,' said Odd cautiously, wondering if XANA could hear him.

'_I know how your minds work. I know that your efforts to stop me are futile. Further interference will only result in somebody getting hurt._'

Odd gulped. 'As if that will stop us! We will beat you in the end!' he called out bravely, trying not to betray the fact that he could not help but shudder at his words.

'_Foolish boy. All I have been doing so far is letting you catch a glimpse of my powers. It is but the tip of the iceberg – when my full forces are unleashed, your puny Earth will be but the first of my conquests. Already my power grows – soon, you and your friends will be wiped out altogether in one final battle._'

Odd stayed silent, trying to take it all in.

'_Join me. Join me and you will be in glory – your skills will receive the splendour they deserve. I know what lies in your heart. You are dissatisfied by your so-called friends, they do not appreciate you. But I will. I will do everything within my power to make sure you reach your full potential. Join me, and you will be great._'

'Never!' Odd shouted, his voice rebounding eerily back at him throughout the empty theatre.

'_Oh._' XANA sounded put out. '_You're sure?_'

'Yup,' Odd said proudly.

'_Well… consider my offer. You will realise it is the best way for you._' Back in evil computer virus mode, the sign on the screen flickered and faded, accompanied by a dying evil cackle.

Odd shook his head. That could only mean one thing. Activated tower. He jumped up immediately, and ran for the factory.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi and Ulrich were surrounding Aelita, waiting desperately for her to recover. 'C'mon… wake up,' muttered Ulrich under his breath while fending off a couple of Kankrelats. Aelita finally stirred.

'Jeremie,' she whispered. As soon as she awoke, all the monsters froze, as did Jeremie.

'Our master's duty has been done. We are dismissed,' Jeremie told the monsters. One by one, they disappeared.

Yumi and Ulrich stared around, bewildered. 'What the…'

Aelita sat up dazedly. 'What happened?'

**Phew… even longer chapter than before! Oh well…**

**Review, please!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Wow… chapter **_**sixteen**_**! O**

**Anyway, you carry on reading…**

'Hey guys, are you all right?' Odd asked frantically, screwing the mike into place behind his ear.

On Lyoko, Aelita had just floated dazedly into the tower. Yumi and Ulrich looked up, faces set and stubborn. 'How come you're here _now_?' asked Yumi frostily.

'I… was sidetracked,' Odd said evasively. There was what sounded suspiciously like a snort.

'Well, everything's fine here, no thanks to you,' Yumi's voice crackled in his ear. He winced; he had forgotten how biting her sarcasm could be.

'Ulrich? You okay?' Odd said, trying to keep his temper in check.

'I'm fine,' came Ulrich's voice tonelessly. 'Where's Sissi?'

Odd checked the cameras. To his unexpected relief, her form was sprawled at the bottom of the central scanner in the scanner room – she had clearly been devirtualised on Lyoko and had not yet regained her strength.

'Scanner room,' he said. In the said scanner room, Sissi was stirring. 'She's in the elevator now,' he reported. No reply came from the virtual warriors.

Odd cleared his throat uncomfortably. 'Uh… look guys, I didn't mean what I said before, and I know I was being selfish, and… erm…'

'Get on with it,' Yumi said tiredly.

'I'm sorry,' Odd said in a small voice. It seemed he was forced to do a lot of apologising lately. This fact only aroused his anger, and he hastily quelled it with reminders that it was probably his own fault in the first place.

There was a sullen silence on Lyoko. Then Yumi exploded. 'You're _sorry_. How can you say you are sorry? How can you come back here whenever you please, thinking that we would immediately accept you and forget everything you did? How can you think that what you said did not hurt us in the slightest?' She took a deep breath, and Odd was shocked to hear that she was on the verge of tears.

'I told you, I'm sorry!' he said, his voice rising.

'No, you're not. You have to _mean_ it, Odd!' Yumi shouted. Before Odd could say that he _did_ mean it, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered coming back, the tower was deactivated.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi stepped out of the scanner with her usual dignity, deliberately avoiding Odd. Aelita stared at Odd as if hardly believing he was there. But at least there was warmth in her eyes, if a bit confused. She, at least, appeared to forgive him.

He turned to the last scanner. Ulrich stared at him intensely, with the barest hint of disappointment. Ah well. At least he wasn't _angry_.

'I've got something to tell you,' Odd burst out. 'It's about XANA – he gave me some sort of message after… after the date,' he said, nervously looking at the others' reactions. Yumi remained turned away from him, Ulrich's expression flickered slightly, and a slight frown crossed Aelita's face.

'Go on,' Aelita said cautiously.

'Well… um… he said something about how he was just… um… playing with us, and it was all about one final battle that would decide everything… and…yeah.' Odd neglected to mention the offer to join XANA's side.

Sissi glared at him, still miffed at the way he had dismissed her at the theatre. 'I don't believe it,' she announced.

'Well, maybe you and Yumi should start an 'I-hate-Odd-Della-Robbia club then!' Odd retorted, his temper getting the better of him.

Yumi finally snapped. 'You're certainly worthy of one,' she spat as she turned on her heel and stalked out. Sissi followed.

After some silence as they stepped into the elevator, as the door was closing they heard Yumi snap something. Sissi retorted angrily, and they heard them argue until they were out of earshot.

Odd was instantly ashamed of what he had said. A fine way to apologise, he told himself angrily. Then he turned back to Ulrich and Aelita, the latter still in a happy daze about Jeremie.

'It's true! And I swear I'm sorry!' he babbled desperately, trying to convince them with all his willpower.

Aelita smiled. 'I believe you. And I need something to tell you in turn.' Odd felt a rush of gratitude toward her – how did he ever manage to be angry at her?'

'Perhaps I had better…' Ulrich motioned toward the elevator, clearly wanting to go and comfort Yumi and Sissi. He did not meet Odd's eyes.

Aelita nodded. Ulrich left. 'So, with the essence bubbles…'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Do you forgive me?' Odd asked Ulrich anxiously, lying in bed after Jim had come thundering in with a threat of detention if 'they weren't in bed shivering under the covers by the time I count to three, you hear?'

Ulrich smiled in the dark. Odd sounded so small and lonely. 'Yes, I forgive you. But I don't think Sissi and Yumi will so easily.'

'You do? Really?'

'Yes – they both sounded pretty mad.'

'I meant the _you_ forgiving part.'

'Oh. Yeah. Of course I forgive you – I know it was just your nature, and we're all on edge ever since Jeremie left.'

'Yeah. But Sissi and Yumi…' Odd's voice trailed off.

'Think about it tomorrow. For now, good night. And try not to snore!'

'I never snore!' Odd protested. Ulrich muffled a snort of incredulous laughter.

A second later, the door was thrown open, light spilling into the room. Jim peered in suspiciously.

Ulrich and Odd were sleeping innocently. Odd was snoring slightly, and Ulrich was turning over, mumbling.

Jim shut the door slowly. He could have sworn he had heard voices… Stern and Della Robbia would get it some day. But just not right then. Jim turned smartly around, and marched up the corridor.

'I was only faking the snoring, just to let you know,' Odd warned Ulrich as soon as they were sure Jim was out of earshot. Ulrich chuckled sleepily. A minute later, they were both truly asleep.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'One more chance,' Sissi said, relenting. 'I suppose it wasn't _all_ your fault… but never, ever pull something like that again, you hear?'

Odd had just delivered a heartfelt speech of apology. Now a grin lit his features. 'No ma'am!' he said smartly.

'Idiot,' Sissi said, before turning back to the front of the class.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi listened, expressionless, to the speech he had given Sissi. 'No,' she said flatly. 'The reason I'm angry goes beyond just your date with Claire. You don't get it, and that's the reason I'm angry. But I suppose the rest of the group wants you in, and I will be forced to submit.' Her lip twisted, and Odd knew she was thinking of Sissi.

She stood up. 'In time, I hope you will understand. But right now, you're just not up to it.'

Odd watched her go, shaking his head. Yumi could get under his skin like nobody could.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Anyway, I can't believe you found the essence bubbles!' Odd enthused. The group had met at their favourite café, out of the cold wind outside. Yumi, however, had refused to come, saying she had to babysit her brother. Odd strongly suspected this to be a lie.

'Yes. It's great, isn't it? And what XANA told you was kind of what Jeremie told us,' Aelita mused. Beside her, Sissi sipped at her strawberry hot chocolate.

After the meeting had broken up, Odd stayed back with Ulrich. 'I need some help with Yumi,' Odd said pleadingly. 'I don't want her to be angry with me anymore – I really am sorry.'

'And what makes you think I can help? Yumi is a very stubborn girl,' Ulrich said slowly.

Odd rolled his eyes. 'Come on! You're her best friend! Talk to her! Do whatever, but _please_ make her see that I'm-'

Ulrich was shaking his head. 'You don't _tell_ Yumi stuff like that,' he said. 'You need to show her.'

'How?'

'Well… she sounds like she's angry because you keep on doing this. You know, the whole fighting thing. She probably thinks you're doing this out of pleasure, and that Jeremie and the group means nothing to you.'

'So?' Odd said impatiently.

'_So_, you've got to re-earn her trust. Show her how much you need to be back in the group. You know, she's really upset about this.' Ulrich added softly. With that, he stood up, paid for his drink, and left, out into the biting wind.

'Hmm,' Odd murmured to himself. After a while, he, too, left.

**Yes, I know this isn't exactly one of my best chapters… oh well.**

**Review ****please****!**


	17. Chapter 17

'In any case, the bubble should be ready to test out by tomorrow,' Aelita said happily, plonking herself down next to Ulrich

'In any case, the bubble should be ready to test out by tomorrow,' Aelita said happily, plonking herself down next to Ulrich.

'Really? That's great!' Yumi exclaimed.

'Yes… where's Odd?' Aelita asked, looking around.

Yumi shrugged. 'Ulrich?'

'I think he went to the library – he said something about not being hungry. He really wants to be friends again, you know,' he said.

Sissi laughed. 'Odd is _always_ hungry.'

'Not today,' Ulrich said sombrely.

Yumi looked strange – half of her seemed hard and resolute, the other half was sad. 'It's just… he doesn't seem to realise the consequences of his actions. He's going to keep doing this, over and over again.'

'No,' Ulrich said seriously, persuasively. 'This time it's real. Come on, Yumi. One more chance.' Yumi glared at him. She _hated_ how he could change her opinion so easily.

'Why didn't Odd come himself?' Yumi snapped. Then realisation dawned on her. 'He made you deliver the message instead?'

'No-'

'He didn't have the courage to tell me to my face? You're using the fact that I trust you more _against_ me?' Yumi was growing more and more enraged.

'Are they always like this?' Sissi whispered to Aelita.

'No – I suppose it's the whole Jeremie thing that's setting us all off,' Aelita whispered back. Sissi nodded understandingly.

Meanwhile, Yumi was cooling down. 'Fine,' she said icily. 'One more chance. That's all he's getting.'

Ulrich shot her a grateful glance. 'Thanks.' Yumi's reply was to glare at him again.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Odd stared at him. 'You told her for me?' he asked, dumbfounded.

Ulrich nodded.

'And how did she take it?'

'She was pretty angry,' Ulrich said wryly. 'But she'll give you another chance.'

Odd whooped. 'Ulrich, you _rock_! Although, you didn't have to do that, you know.'

Ulrich winked at him. 'Knowing you, you'd've probably made things even worse.' Then he walked away.

'Hey!' Odd shouted after him when he realised Ulrich had just insulted his diplomatic skills. He opened his mouth to shout something after him, and then closed it, grinning. Ulrich was probably right anyway.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Hey, Sissi!' Sissi turned around, her hand on her dormitory door handle.

Her erstwhile friends, no, they were more like followers, Herve and Nicolas were standing there. Evidently they had been waiting for her return, and they stepped in front of her doorway, blocking it.

'What do you want?' Sissi snapped at them, looking disgustedly from Herve's acne-ridden, utterly admiring face to Nicolas's stupid smile. How did she manage to stand their company for so long? She shuddered involuntarily.

'Uh… we was just wondering,'- here Herve winced at Nicolas's terrible grammar – 'if you could tell us when you're going to come back with us.'

'I'm not. Get it? I'm with Ulrich now,' Sissi snapped again.

'B-But Sissi!' Herve exclaimed. 'We're your _friends_! Not Stern and his buddies!'

'Well Herve, I'm now one of 'Stern's buddies'. So, after you've got that in your thick heads, kindly get out of my way before I puke at your ugly faces!'

They automatically moved, too used to obeying Sissi's instructions. Sissi marched into her room, and slammed the door behind her.

'Well, we still hasn't found what Ulrich has been hiding,' Nicolas said glumly.

'I was _so sure_ Sissi would tell us!' Herve muttered, fuming, as they walked away.

'Maybe we should follow them!' Nicolas's face brightened at the idea.

Herve stopped, his eyes widening. 'Nicolas, let's do just that,' he said, grinning and thumping Nicolas's back with his puny arm.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

_Another_ riddle to solve. Aelita was growing frustrated. But at least this one was fairly easy and straightforward to solve – XANA was preparing for one, final, deciding battle.

This phrase rang a faint recognisation bell in her head, and she struggled to hold on to the memory floating just out of reach. A deciding battle… of course! In her history lesson, when she was given detention!

She half-remembered the teacher's droning voice – 'Now, an important fact about wars – most end in one final 'deciding battle', if you like…' And what was their fight against XANA if not a war?

She delved further into her memories. 'The deciding battle displays, once and for all, the winner. However, in some cases, the battles bubble up again some time later. The deciding battle time and place is decided by the original attacker. The attacker usually sends some form of offer for surrender just before the battle.'

Aelita gasped. _That_ was what XANA had been doing! Offering surrender to the Lyoko warriors! Now she knew – the next activated tower meant everything.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Oh no,' Yumi whispered. 'You mean-'

'Yes,' Aelita said heavily. 'Next time we go to Lyoko, it's then or never.'

'Excellent,' muttered Ulrich.

Odd looked around at them. 'Well, shouldn't this be a happy occasion? I mean, we're about to the rid of XANA forever!'

Everyone looked at him hollowly.

'Well,' he amended. 'Maybe not forever. But for a while, at least!' He beamed.

Everyone continued to look at him hollowly.

'OK, OK,' Odd muttered, falling silent.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Everybody was on edge for when XANA would finally attack. Ulrich nearly fell out of his chair when his mobile vibrated in his pocket, Aelita obsessively checked her computer, Yumi jumped at the slightest noise (when Odd jumped at her shouting 'Boo!' she nearly concussed him).

After a wild-eyed Aelita dashed into class, Ulrich, Odd and Sissi all leapt to their feet, fully believing XANA had attacked at last. However, it was a false alarm, and they, along with Yumi, who Ulrich had speed-dialled automatically, were sent to detention.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi glanced at her watch. Two more hours of detention, and her parents were going to grill her when she got home. She yawned, and resettled herself in her chair.

Beside her, Ulrich was nearly asleep. She tilted her head as she watched, a smile coming to her face automatically. He half-opened his eyes and smiled at her sleepily. She froze, stunned by his beautiful smile, which caught her off guard. She quickly averted her gaze.

Opposite her, Aelita gave her an exaggerated roll of her eyes at Jim, who was fast asleep and snoring in his chair at the front of the room. Yumi grinned wryly, and moved on.

Sissi was asleep, her head resting on Odd's shoulder. Odd looked slightly uncomfortable, however, he did not shake her off. Yumi was slightly puzzled by this new development, before she allowed herself a small grin. A match made in heaven, it seemed.

She watched the minute hand of her watch tick steadily around. The minutes dragged on and on…

Two hours later, all the occupants of the room were fast asleep.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'I got grounded,' Yumi said heavily, sitting down next to Aelita. Everyone shot her sympathetic looks.

'Well, at least XANA didn't activate a tower when we were asleep,' Aelita murmured.

Yumi blushed hotly as she remembered how she had been awakened the night before – she had half-woken in a state of consciousness and sleep, only aware of a comforting presence all around her. When she had fully woken up, she had realised she had been nestled against Ulrich, and his arm had been draped around her.

She quickly avoided Ulrich's eyes, and started eating, cheeks still flaming. 'Yeah. So, when do you attack XANA's thinking? I mean, when is XANA going to think of you attacking? I mean…' Yumi trailed off, tongue-tied by her memories and more flustered than ever.

'When do I think XANA will attack?' Aelita asked gently. 'Very, very soon. That's when. If not the next time he attacks, then the time after, at the limit.'

Yumi gulped. That didn't sound good.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'XANA attack,' Aelita gasped, bursting into the room. 'But I don't think this is it – XANA would have made it much more dramatic.'

'You sure?' Yumi asked worriedly.

'No,' Aelita replied, her brow creased. 'But let's go!'

**Review.**** (please)**


	18. Chapter 18

Oh dear

**Oh dear… I've lost count of what chapter this is… oh well!**

'So who's to be the bubble?' asked Yumi, eyebrow raised. They were all standing in the computer room in the factory.

'Me,' Aelita said without hesitation. When everyone began to protest, she pressed her lips together tightly and waited for the clamour to die down.

'I'm the one who knows how to operate it the best,' she said gently. 'It has to be me. And since I know Jeremie the best,' – here she blushed – 'there's a better chance of him coming back.'

One by one, they nodded reluctantly. However, Odd looked thoughtful, calculating. Aelita smiled. 'I'll virtualise Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi first. Then Odd and I will come.'

'You're sure?' asked Yumi, taking Aelita gently by the shoulders, and searching her eyes.

No, I'm not, I just want to make sure you're all safe, Aelita thought. Her mouth said, 'Yes. Now go!' Aelita pushed them toward the elevator.

'Virtualisation,' Aelita gasped into the microphone. She was getting more and more tense. Her heart was thumping at twice the normal speed and velocity. Her finger hovered over the key, and then pressed down.

She gazed, wide-eyed, at the screen, sure that XANA had corrupted the virtualisation process somehow. However, to her suspicious surprise, nothing happened.

'Listen, Princess,' Odd's tinny voice buzzed in her ear. 'It's too dangerous if we lose you. XANA saw this coming, remember what he said?'

'That could be bluff,' Aelita pointed out, although her resolve was weakening.

'I don't think so,' Odd said quietly. 'If we lose you, if XANA has corrupted the bubble system, then XANA can activate all the towers he wants, and we won't be able to stop him.'

His voice rang true. Aelita nearly cried. 'Then what do we _do_?' she asked despairingly.

'Use me instead,' came Odd's unexpected answer. Aelita jerked with shock, then considered. He was probably right, she thought reluctantly.

'OK,' she said quietly, hardly believing her own words, knowing she would regret them later. She heard Odd's sharp intake of breath, and realised he had been expecting an argument.

'Hey, Aelita?' a new voice asked. Ulrich.

'Yep.'

'Could you hurry up, please? The lack of monsters is unnerving.'

'Lack of monsters?' Aelita repeated, her fingers bringing up Odd's avatar. She began to make a few changes.

'Yeah, there's not one in sight.' Sissi put in.

'Well, just head south for a bit. Maybe the monsters are nearer to the activated tower.'

'Nope. We checked. We're just outside the tower, actually.' Yumi informed her.

Aelita shook her head, confused. This wasn't how she imagined it at all – where were all the special XANA effects?

'Transfer complete,' she muttered to herself. Odd would now be virtualised as essence bubbles on Lyoko.

She set a timed virtualisation, wanting to join her friends as soon as possible, and raced down to join Odd.

A minute later, she was on the ice sector.

'This feels weird,' Odd's voice commented. She stood up, and looked around, bracing herself. She _knew_ she shouldn't have given in – _why_ had she done it? And now one of her friends might be mutilated for life. She realised she had shut her eyes, and opened them, wincing in anticipation.

About five bright purple bubbles were floating around her. She could have laughed in her relief that she hadn't hurt him. It was just the way it was supposed to be.

She cautiously touched a bubble. When it didn't react, she poked it. Her finger sank right into it. She hastily jerked it out.

'Ohh… you don't want to know how bad that felt,' Odd's voice groaned. Aelita patted the bubble lightly, chuckling, and turned to face her dumbfounded friends.

'Well?'

'That's… that's…' Yumi struggled to find words to express herself.

'Really cool!' Sissi exploded enthusiastically. Yumi glared at her.

'Never mind that, let's go!' Ulrich said, pointing to the activated tower with an unsheathed katana.

Suddenly, Jeremie appeared in front of them. He appeared alone, just like last time. However, on reflex, Yumi whipped around to check behind them, just in case. Jeremie took no notice.

'So, you accept our kind offer of survival?' he asked smoothly.

Aelita shook her head, numbed. Jeremie's appearances always took her by surprise, no matter how much she prepared herself beforehand.

'What?' Jeremie's pleasant expression flickered for a second.

'No.' Aelita looked timidly up, meeting his eyes. They bored into hers blankly.

'No?' Jeremie repeated softly, the XANA sign in his eyes burning stronger. His voice was deadly cold.

Then, quite suddenly, he grinned, displaying a dazzling set of teeth. 'Then you die,' he said casually. His hands shot up, faster than Aelita could have imagined, and, before she knew it, she was dangling over the edge of the sector, Jeremie's hand closed around her throat.

She stared into his blank, merciless eyes. His grip on her tightened, she felt woozy. She feebly clawed at his hand, while he watched amusedly.

'You could die quietly,' Jeremie mused. 'Or I could prolong your pain and watch you struggle.' He appeared thoughtful, though cruel amusement shone from his eyes.

Aelita went limp. There was nothing she could do. She stared, one last time, at Jeremie's face. It would be the very last thing she would see. They had failed…

His face suddenly contorted into an expression of twisted loathing. The grip around her neck grew ever stronger, until Aelita was sure her neck would break if he applied even the tiniest amount of more pressure.

'_Now_ do you surrender?' he snarled, eyes narrowing viciously. Aelita managed a faint moan, and closed her eyes. Darkness was clouding her vision anyway, she could feel the impending doom like a weight upon her shoulders.

'She told you, _no_!' Yumi's clear voice shouted, cutting through Aelita's slip away from life.

Dimly, she registered two whirling discs of light slamming into Jeremie, and herself falling. She thought she heard, faintly, the word 'Wings!'

She giggled. Wings. Humans didn't have wings, that was ridiculous. She closed her eyes again…

Something hard hit her wrist. She looked down, surprised, at a quivering sword stuck into her star bracelet. Now how did it get there…

A second later, she was rising, the cool air awakening her from her stupor. Her pink wings had burst out of her back, and she immediately swooped overhead, pink energy balls at the ready.

She took in the scene. Jeremie was leaking some oily, black, utterly disgusting looking substance. As she watched, it manifested itself in a pool, and then rose in the shape of a huge black cloud. It immersed Jeremie, and then, revolving slowly, advanced on essence-bubble Odd.

'Not good,' Odd squeaked. The purple bubbles darted nimbly away. The black bubble gave a roar of frustration, and lurched toward the nearest one.

Aelita struggled to catch a glimpse of Jeremie within the writhing coils that was XANA. She could see nothing.

She saw Yumi hurling her fans at the cloud, saw them disappear into it, and not come out. She saw a clone of Ulrich plunge a sword into it, and draw only the hilt out.

The black cloud gave a mirthless chuckle, and unleashed black lightning, much like the type Jeremie used. It lashed out, destroying two of Ulrich's clones.

Aelita shuddered. How where they supposed to defeat this? It was impossible. And Odd couldn't keep this up much longer – his bubbles had already started deforming from XANA's relentless attacks.

'Wait,' she heard Yumi murmur. Shocked, she watched the Japanese girl place two delicate fingers to her left temple. She raised the other hand slowly, smiling grimly.

'No!' Ulrich shouted, realising what she was about to do. 'Yumi, you won't be able to!' Yumi closed her eyes gently, and a glow settled itself around her upper body.

The black cloud also suddenly had a pale pink aura. It roared, and the pink aura faded, only to pulse back to life. The black cloud was held in place, immobile. Yumi was fighting to keep in control, and she was on her knees, her teeth bared in the effort of keeping XANA in check.

'Can't… keep up… tower!' Yumi gasped. Aelita understood, and took off.

When Aelita was three paces from the tower, Yumi collapsed, the effort of keeping XANA trapped taking its toll.

'I'm so sorry,' she gasped out, making eye contact with Aelita, before disintegrating. Ulrich shouted something, but Aelita couldn't hear.

She couldn't hear, because she was wrapped in a suffocating cloud of black. A triumphant, evil laugh sounded all around her. So this was the end… Aelita closed her eyes, visualising her friends' faces one last time…

Then, a burst of white light, shot through with purple, broke through the cloud. Aelita blinked, the sudden freedom overwhelming her.

'Go,' came Franz Hopper's and Odd's mixed voices. 'We cannot hold out for long.'

Aelita turned, and melted into the tower. Behind her, XANA screamed.

**Wasn't that exciting? XD**

**Review!**


	19. Chapter 19

'That was close,' Aelita murmured, passing a hand over her eyes

'That was close,' Aelita murmured, passing a hand over her eyes.

'Too close,' agreed Yumi shakily.

'Way, _way_ too close,' Odd added.

'So what do we do now?' interrupted Sissi.

Aelita smiled, her eyes closed. 'Well, we know for sure that the next XANA attack will be the ultimate one. Oh and Odd…'

'Yes?'

'Thanks. Thanks for taking my place.'

'Hey, no problem, princess! All in a day's work! Although, now you mention it, that was quite a noble thing I did, wasn't it?' Odd beamed around at everyone.

Aelita punched him lightly on the shoulder. 'Well, now that I know the program is functioning, I'll be the one next.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Well, what was dat?' Nicolas asked Herve stupidly, after the Lyoko Warriors exited the factory, looking worried.

'I'll tell you what. Stern and his friends have got some kind of secret organisation called Loko going on. Somehow, he's managed to recruit Sissi. And they want to take over the world with something called a XANA,' Herve answered, attempting to look wise.

'Take over the world? Isn't that a bit melo…meldra…big?'

'Well, with a devious mind like Stern's, I'll bet he can get away with having Sissi for a girlfriend too,' Herve said bitterly.

Nicolas nodded. 'Yeah, that makes sense.'

Herve kicked him. 'Shut up.'

'Ow!' Nicolas complained. 'That actually hurt!'

'That's the point, moron!' Herve hissed.

'So, how do we get Sissi back?' Nicolas enquired, after a few more minutes of grouching.

Herve rolled his eyes. 'We threaten to tell the world about Loko if we don't get Sissi back! Duh!'

'Well, she was pretty mad when we said dat to her before,' Nicolas said doubtfully.

'That's because she's brainwashed, dolt!' Herve snapped.

Understanding dawned in Nicolas's dull eyes. 'Oh.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

In his mind, Herve saw himself bursting dramatically into Stern's room, interrupt their dark activities, catch them red-handed. He would triumphantly snatch up their plans, which would be lying on the table, and tell them about how they would never had gotten away with it.

They would all look at him, dumbfounded that he had discovered their secret. Stern and Della Robbia would cower at his feet, begging for mercy, while Belpois would finally admit that Herve was smarter than him all along. Ishiyama and Stones would stare at him with starry eyes, dazzled by his dashing charm. They would beguile him, tell him of their undying love…

But Herve would shake them off impatiently, ignoring their cries of pain, and search the room for his beloved… and their eyes would meet.

'Oh Herve,' Sissi would say, wrapping her arms around his neck.

'Oh Sissi,' he would respond, sweeping her into his arms, arms that had magically become more muscled and toned.

'Herve…' Sissi would say, blushing. 'I have always loved you, you know. I always wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you wouldn't love me back! Because if you didn't, my heart would be broken! I would never, ever recover, I love you so! And now that you have saved me…' And with that, Sissi would burst into tears.

Herve would stare lovingly into her eyes, admiring her beauty, before cutting off her sorrow with a passionate kiss. At his feet, Stern and Della Robbia would be writhing with envy. He kick them disdainfully out of the way, shake off Ishiyama and Stones one last time, and smirk at Belpois, before marching out the door, nobly carrying Sissi all the way.

'Oh Herve,' Sissi would gush breathlessly, when they broke apart. 'You're such a man now! How did I ever resist you before?'

'I don't know, Sissi,' Herve would tell her, his voice deep and commanding. And they would kiss again, and go through school life together, every boy envious of Herve and every girl envious of Sissi for having such a great boyfriend.

And every day, Belpois, Stern and Della Robbia would lick his boots and run to do his bidding, addressing him as 'sir' or 'master.' And he would finally show down that dolt Jim, and the principal would give him a medal of honour for saving his daughter, and bless them both.

And when they grew up, they would get married, and live happily every after…

'Uh… Herve? What does we do now?' Nicolas's voice broke through his happy daydream.

'What?'

'And could you please put me down?'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Herve stopped outside the dormitory door of Stern and Della Robbia's room. 'You stay here and watch guard,' he instructed Nicolas. Truth be told, he wanted Nicolas out of the picture so he, Herve, could have the glory.

'Yessir,' Nicolas said, grinning stupidly in that way of his, the way that particularly annoyed Herve.

'I'm going in,' Herve snapped. He marched over to the door, and attempted to kick it open, so he could stride in.

What actually transpired was the door refusing to budge, and Herve ending up with a stubbed toe.

'Uh, wouldn't it be just easier of you opened?' Nicolas asked over Herve's swearing. 'See, like this.' He stepped forward, and opened the door.

'I know that, moron!' hissed Herve. Nicolas looked confused.

'Well then why-' Herve shoved Nicolas away.

'Shut up!' He took a deep breath, and stalked into the dormitory, waiting for their embarrassed reactions, and a flurry of hiding the papers they were studying so intently.

Again, things went differently to plan. He couldn't bring himself to snatch the papers lying so innocently on the desk.

And their reactions were different too. Stern looked up, frowning, at the disturbance. When he saw who it was, he sighed, and expression of expectant boredom crossing his face.

Della Robbia also looked up, and a look of pure mischief and barely concealed glee and delight manifested itself on his face. Meanwhile, Ishiyama had glanced up, and smirked at Herve. And it wasn't a _Let's get together sometime_ smirk. It wasn't even a _Glad to see you_ smirk. It was a _This should be interesting to watch, eh?_ smirk.

Stones, however, had looked up briefly, and returned to scribbling away at whatever she was doing.

But the person Herve had truly come for, the person he had expected to react with most joy to his noble rescue was staring at him with a look of utter loathing and disbelief. Doesn't matter, she's been brainwashed, he reminded himself. However, he wasn't quite convinced.

Needless to say, these reactions weren't quite bolstering Herve's confidence. He made a feeble attempt of regaining his composure, spotting a little black book sprawled open in front of Ishiyama.

'What's this?' he asked, darting forward and snatching it, holding it up. He attempted to sound grand, but what came out was a kind of squeak.

A muffled chuckle came delightedly from Della Robbia.

'Uh… I wouldn't touch that if I were you,' Ulrich warned, grinning.

'Hah! That's empty bluster! Now let's see what plots you have been scheming. You think you could've gotten away with this? You thought wrong!' Herve said, waving the book in his face. Behind him, Aelita continued to scribble away, while Yumi looked outraged.

Herve flipped the black book open to a random page, and began reading aloud. 'Today Hiroki was teasing me about Ulrich. Again.' This didn't sound like evil plans to Herve. But he went on anyway.

'Seriously, why can't he leave me alone? Little brothers are so annoying! But still, I suppose what he said about Ulrich was true – I really do-'

Herve was knocked flying by a crimson-faced Yumi. She towered over him. '_What_ do you think you're doing?' she snarled, seizing the book.

'Erm… I'll… I'll never let you get away with…' Herve's voice trailed off as he looked into Yumi's blazing eyes. Behind them, Odd broke into full-fledged laughter.

'_Boys_!' she hissed finally, after struggling with the decision of not beating Herve into a pulp. She stalked back to her seat, slipping the black book into her bag. As it fell in, Herve glimpsed the words '_Diary of Yumi Ishiyama_'.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, and settled her head in her arms. 'What _do_ you want?' Odd enquired, voice still shaking with laughter.

Herve drew himself up. 'I know for a fact that you are all part of a brainwashing group called… called Loko, and you fight with something called a XANA,' he said in a rush. This wasn't going as planned at all – it sounded all right when he was talking to Nicolas, but now he felt like a fool.

However, as he said the words Loko and XANA, he had the satisfaction of seeing everyone freeze and stare at him, the grin fading off Odd's face and Aelita finally looking up, horrified.

'How did you find this out?' Yumi finally asked softly.

Herve puffed out his chest. 'We-_I _followed you to the factory, and I have no intention of letting you have Sissi!' he said, pointing at a gaping, shocked Sissi.

'Sissi, I'm… I'm here,' he said, his resolve failing at the look on his face.

Sissi closed her mouth, outraged, her eyes bulging. 'I can see that, idiot. We'll talk outside,' she snapped, getting up and dragging Herve out the door by the arm. He winced. He had forgotten how hard she could grip.

Back in the room, Odd was laughing his head off. 'Oh Yumi, you got him good!' he laughed.

Yumi grinned at him. 'Thanks Odd.' She turned to Aelita. 'How's the plan going?'

'Great,' Aelita replied softly, not looking up from her writing and diagrams.

'Well, I should be getting back now,' Yumi said, getting up. 'Thanks for letting me study in here, Odd… Ulrich,' she said, blushing anew when she said Ulrich's name.

'No problem,' Ulrich said dazedly, getting up from where he was lying on his bed.

Yumi swung her bag around to settle on her shoulders. As it did so, however, her diary fell out. Yumi appeared not to notice, and was halfway to the door when Ulrich bent over to pick it up, and stopped Yumi just as she was stepping out the door.

'Uh… Yumi… you dropped this,' he said, holding her diary out while staring at his feet.

'What?' she asked, turning around. Then she noticed what he was holding out, and flushed. 'Wh-oh, thanks.' She looked down as well, taking her diary from Ulrich's hands, enjoying the thrill of electricity that ran through her when her hand brushed his.

Meanwhile, Ulrich was struck anew by her beauty, her raven hair hanging around her perfect, ivory, flushed face as she placed it carefully in her bag. 'Thanks again,' she muttered, still looking at her feet, before rushing out.

When Ulrich shut the door, looking dazed, Odd shook his head disparagingly. 'Dude, that is _really_ not the way to go.'

**Joy… just a humiliating, pointless chapter for Herve. Thanks for reviewing all! (And if you haven't, get to it!)**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty already

**Chapter twenty already!! OK, I think some thanks need to be distributed – I put this off for far too long…**

**First off, to Railen, for his brilliant constructive criticism! (Or reviews in general, you pick, Railen.) Secondly to burgessa for faithfully reviewing nearly every chapter! Also thanks to trixter 93, The Mad shoe1 for reviewing and their advice/encouragement! (I got these names off the first page of the reviews… if I missed out on anybody, sorry!)**

**Oh, and lastly to Snowy, reason being check my profile! OK, on with the story!**

'And don't you _dare_ come back!' Sissi yelled at a cringing Herve.

'Yes ma'am… er, Sissi!' Herve squeaked, scuttling away. Sissi glared after him, breathing heavily. Then she slammed back into the room.

'Well?' she asked, glaring at Odd, who was having a silent fit of laughter, Aelita who was looking over her notes blandly and Ulrich who was staring wistfully into the distance.

'I've put together a sort of plan for when XANA attacks,' Aelita said, waving a hand over her notes.

Odd was at her side in a flash, looking through the notes. Aelita swatted him away.

'Continue, please, Aelita,' Sissi said, trying not to laugh at the injured look on Odd's face.

'Yes,' Aelita said with a frosty glare at Odd. Odd gave her a weak grin. She turned her attention back to the group in general, and shuffled her notes like a newsreader. 'We know that weapons have no effect on Jeremie. Therefore, we must defeat him by our other offensives, which are, of course, our powers. Of course, we must also include our physical weapons, we just mustn't be too dependent on them.' She beamed around at them.

'It took you _this long_ to figure out _that much_?' Odd asked disbelievingly. Aelita stared at him, and then burst into laughter.

'Of course not, silly! I figured all this out in the first fifteen minutes I was here!'

'Then what were you doing?' asked Ulrich, stunned, eying the thick sheaf of papers she was clutching.

Aelita raised an eyebrow, and waved her papers dismissively. 'My math homework, of course – and a bit of studying for the test we have tomorrow.' She winked at Odd, who gaped at her.

'But… you… why didn't you tell us earlier?' Odd demanded, too shocked to worry about the test.

Aelita shrugged. 'The math homework was very absorbing,' she admitted. Odd, Ulrich and Sissi stared at her, speechless.

Aelita grew uncomfortable. 'Well, anyway, I get the feeling all of us will be needed on Lyoko, as the attack will probably be too strong for any of us to fend off, so the sooner the activated tower is deactivated, the better.'

'True,' Ulrich said slowly. Behind him, Odd was still gaping at Aelita openly.

Aelita went on enthusiastically, growing more confident. 'So, our main aim is to get me to the tower, and try and cure Jeremie on the way. Ulrich, you and your clones are my bodyguards. I cannot risk being devirtualised. Odd, since the powers Jeremie gave you include accelerated reaction time and a slight healing factor,'- 'It did?' muttered Odd –'you're in charge of keeping William at bay, as XANA has no doubt upped his power.'

'What… that's not fair! I get the hardest job!' Odd protested. Aelita glared at him. Odd subsided into muttering under his breath.

'Anyway, that's not even true. Sissi, you're in main charge of destroying the monsters.'

'What about Yumi? And Jeremie himself?' interrupted Ulrich, worried.

'Aha… I was thinking, Yumi could use her telekinesis to keep those horrible lightning bolts Jeremie uses at bay. Since I have been working on her power, she should be able to use both her fans and her power simultaneously.'

'Hang on… where did you find time to do this?' Sissi asked.

'Let's just say that I don't need much sleep,' Aelita said, smiling slightly.

'I don't like this,' Sissi announced. 'When I signed up, it was only for the fun of it!' She didn't add that it was also to be close to a certain boy.

Aelita's face darkened. 'This isn't meant to be _fun_, Sissi, it's real. And it's too late to back out now.'

Sissi looked timidly at Ulrich and Odd's hard, set faces, and for the first time understood what she had done when she accepted Odd's offer.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Good,' Yumi said simply, when she heard the plan. 'Anyway, got to rush now. My science teacher wants to see me before class,' she said over her shoulder, dashing off.

Aelita nudged Odd. 'Speaking of which we've got a math test to attend,' she said, grinning at him.

'Well, I was worrying about the welfare of the world! I have no time for such trifles!' Odd protested grandly. They all laughed, a mask for their true feelings, and set off to their classes.

However, Odd pulled Aelita back at the last minute, when they were just outside the classroom.

'Aelita,' he said seriously, holding her shoulders and looking her straight in the eye, 'What chance of success does this plan have?'

Aelita gazed sombrely back into Odd's eyes, her smile slipping off to accentuate her hollow cheeks and the shadows under her eyes. 'Very, very little,' she whispered after a long pause. She shook off his grip, and slipped into the classroom, looking exhausted and haggard.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Shouldn't we have a back-up plan or something?' enquired Yumi.

Aelita stared at her. 'We have nothing else. If this plan fails, we will get no other chance.'

Yumi stared at her, shocked by the helplessness and defeat smothering her friend's voice and eyes. She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and held it there for a few minutes.

Aelita, on her part, was convinced their plan would fail. She had been ever since she had told Odd that the chances of success were almost nonexistent. Going back on her plan, she was surprised her friends had bought it in the first place.

She sighed, and turned her attention back to thinking of their math test. However, her thoughts soon slipped back to Lyoko.

Where was her father? When XANA triumphed, what would happen to him? Would he save her, as he had done before? The questions spun around in Aelita's head.

She was considerably calm about the actual attack – there was nothing she, or any of the others, could do. It would take a tremendous miracle to see them through – a miracle Aelita did not expect in the slightest, and with that gloomy thought, her thoughts settled ever deeper into melancholy.

Odd read the feelings in Aelita's eyes, and sighed. Did nobody have any optimism in them anymore? He caught Sissi's eye, and rolled his own ever so slightly in the direction of Aelita. Sissi grinned slightly, and went back to her lunch.

Ulrich spoke up, trying to repel the suffocating silence between them. 'So, Yumi, what did your science teacher want?' He gave her an inviting smile.

Yumi understood what Ulrich was trying to do, and smiled inwardly at his efforts. 'Oh, she just wanted to see me about an overdue report,' she said lightly, not betraying the fact that her insides were now jelly, thanks to his smile.

'Really? You have overdue reports? Is that even possible for Yumi Ishiyama?' Odd chimed in jokingly. Yumi punched him lightly on the shoulder.

'Oh, and you can talk! How was your math test?' she asked, looking at Aelita out of the corner of her eye. She was still picking moodily at her food, and for an instant, a flash of pure defeat crossed her face, before it settled back into its previous blankness. That single flash of expression sent shivers down Yumi's spine – it was so final.

'Ah… can we not talk about that?' Odd asked, mock-wincing. He had also noticed the look on Aelita's face. Yumi snapped her attention back to him, and they exchanged worried glances.

'He spent all of it making origami butterflies and seeing if they actually flew,' Sissi put in dryly. They all forced a laugh, and a heavy silence fell again.

Aelita abruptly pushed her bowl away, and stood up. They all watched her in silence. She slowly, deliberately walked outside, where they watched her retreating pink figure until it vanished into the dorm building.

'Guess that went well,' Odd said gloomily.

**Short chapter. Sorreeee! Review! **


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one

**Chapter twenty-one… My fanfic is an adult! … OK, bad analogy.**

Dark, muddled images flashed before Aelita's eyes. Thunder crashed, a low evil muttering sounded from everywhere around her.

She was alone. She was scared. She had no idea what was going on. All around her, chaos reigned. She opened her mouth to scream, and suddenly found she couldn't breathe. She tried to wave her arms, call for help… it was then, with horror, she discovered she was paralysed.

She struggled her hardest, but the harder she resisted, the more muddled the images around her became, until her head was spinning with so much nausea she was going to throw up.

A terrific gust of wind swept through her, chilling her very bones. Then a whisper sounded, right in her ear.

Aelita jerked awake. She was twisted in her blankets, and they were smothering her. For a few seconds, she thought she was still in her dream, then regained her common sense and wriggled out.

She sat at the foot of her bed, gasping. Her forehead was plastered with sweat, and her heart was thumping fit to burst out of her chest.

She reached into her pillowcase, and drew out her three precious photographs. Staring at their happy faces took away her fear, but replaced it with an aching sadness.

Then, as she put away the other photos and held Jeremie's a fiery determination filled her up. She crept quietly back into bed, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi looked up, narrowing her eyes. She eyed Ulrich, taking in his every move, noting his tensed muscles, the angle of his drawn swords.

'Let's see who wins _this_ time,' she hissed, tessan fans flashing into existence in her outstretched palms.

'Triplicate!' Ulrich shouted. Suddenly there were three of him. Yumi didn't blink, and remained perfectly still.

'Time to try out my updated power,' Yumi muttered to herself. She raised her arm, and immediately a pink glow surrounded one of the clones.

She swung her arm, and the clone obligingly was knocked into the digital sea. She was pleasantly surprised at how easy it had been.

Ulrich growled slightly, and charged, weaving around Yumi in a confusing circle.

She cartwheeled a few times to gain momentum, and leaped clear out of the circle, whereupon she pirouetted gracefully, releasing her fans in a deadly whir.

Ulrich grunted as one fan nicked his side. He fell down, grunting, and glared hatefully up at his opponent, who was smirking coolly at him.

'You let your guard down,' she commented. He scowled. She raised her fans for a final strike, and he winced in anticipation.

Then his _other_ clone appeared behind her. She whirled around in shock, and threw up her fans just in time to block a deadly katana. She swept her leg out, catching him and throwing him to the ground.

She put her foot under the discarded sword hilt, and flipped it up, watching it dispassionately as it entered its owner's chest. She then turned back to her original victim.

He had vanished. She swore under her breath, and shaded her eyes, looking up.

Sure enough, a purple shadow, silhouetted against the light, circled overhead. The Overboard – with two riders. She swore again – Ulrich's partner had arrived. Yumi's own useless partner had been wiped out quite a while earlier.

She knew what was coming. She ran away, dodging the arrows that peppered the ground around her. She threw one of her fans up in retaliation, but she hadn't really been aiming, and caught it again when it came zinging back to her.

She reached the cover of the rocks. Then she considered her options, and chose one carefully. She snapped shut the fans in her hands.

She thrust out her right hand. This was going to be tricky, with an airborne target. The distance would be hard to negotiate too.

But she tried it anyway.

Far above, Odd Della Robbia noticed the pink glow gathering around his vehicle, and, more importantly, its resistance to its riders.

'She's trying to take control of the Overboard,' he yelled at Ulrich over the wind rushing by them.

Ulrich groaned. 'Get out of her range,' he ordered. Odd nodded, and took off.

Below, Yumi sighed. She hadn't really been expecting it to work, but it had been worth a shot – besides, if it was to be a fight on their vehicles, them against her, she had a pretty good idea of who would win.

Nevertheless, she hopped onto her waiting Overwing, and soared away, enjoying the feeling of effortless flight.

Ahead of her, she spotted a purple dot on the horizon.

'The bird has flown out of her nest,' Ulrich murmured. 'Turn around.'

'What am I, your pilot?' Odd grumbled, making an airborne U-turn.

'Yes,' Ulrich said shortly.

Yumi grinned. They had fallen into her trap. She had a surprise attack, one that she had been informed about just a few minutes earlier, one that nobody knew about.

She shut her eyes, concentrated. Soon, her fans erupted in her hands, and began vibrating. They glowed powerfully, and vibrated stronger. Yumi gasped from the effort, but continued loading power onto her weapons.

When Odd and Ulrich were close enough so Yumi could see their faces, she could hold on no longer. She drew her arms into her chest, and thrust them out, letting go of her fans.

Like white lightning, they flashed toward a shocked Ulrich and Odd, leaving a glowing trail behind them. She laughed to herself as the fans sliced easily through their sides, continuing their deadly path and destroying anything in it. They flew out for a long way, and finally returned to Yumi's hand.

'And I win,' Yumi murmured smugly to herself. 'Bring me in, Ae.'

'Well done, Yumi,' Aelita congratulated overhead. 'Materialisation, Yumi.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi had the pleasure of seeing Ulrich and Odd's disgruntled faces as she climbed calmly out of her scanner.

'That was the third battle I've won against you,' she reminded them, grinning.

'And me! Don't forget me!' Sissi pouted, popping up behind them.

Yumi rolled her eyes. 'Yes, but _you_ always manage to get devirtualised ten seconds in. don't you?'

Sissi reddened. 'I'm just a beginner!' she complained. Yumi snorted, and pushed past her into the elevator.

'Anyway, what _was_ that attack you used?' Odd asked curiously.

'Oh, Aelita decided to update my weapons as well as my powers,' Yumi said carelessly.

'Wow,' Odd whistled, impressed. 'Wish she'd do that to _me_.'

The elevator door opened. Aelita was waiting for them, beaming. 'These mock-fights are a good idea, aren't they?' she asked happily.

'Yeah,' Ulrich said, grinning back.

'Yumi's getting too good,' Odd complained, flopping himself on the floor. Aelita laughed softly.

Suddenly, a disgusting, squelching noise emanated from the supercomputer's monitor. As the Lyoko group watched, Aelita in particular horror, a horribly familiar black, slimy, smoky substance started pouring out. Aelita cried out, stumbling backwards.

The supercomputer's monitor cracked with a sudden sound breaking the shocked silence, and the light pulsing from the machine died. And still the substance poured, this time with a steady, low chuckling sound. XANA had finally escaped the supercomputer.

'What _is_ that?' Yumi whispered.

Aelita closed her eyes. Here was the moment she had been dreading. 'XANA attack,' she said. '_The_ XANA attack.'

**Ooh… biggest cliffie of this modest story! O**

**Review **_**please**_**!**


	22. Chapter 22

'Yumi, Ulrich, you're the fastest runners

'Yumi, Ulrich, you're the fastest runners. Get to Mr. Delmas and the school grounds and get everybody inside,' said Aelita in a low, tight voice. Yumi and Ulrich nodded without a word and ran off.

Aelita turned to the remaining two people. 'C'mon, let's get down to the scanners,' she told them, running off to the elevator and punching the button immediately after Odd and Sissi were in.

'But how are we going to be virtualised when XANA's corrupted the supercomputer?' Odd asked anxiously.

Aelita stopped from kicking the door impatiently, and looked up, a grim smile on her face. 'I reprogrammed the scanners to automatically virtualise us when they recognise our DNA,' she explained. The elevator door rolled silently open, and she stepped hastily out.

'Wait – shouldn't we wait for Yumi and Ulrich? When we're on Lyoko, XANA could just ambush the three of us and wait for Yumi and Ulrich to arrive,' Odd said, placing a restraining hand on Aelita's arm.

Aelita stopped. 'You're right,' she agreed, sitting herself on the floor abruptly. 'Let's just wait quietly in here, while XANA _destroys the whole WORLD_!' Aelita said, her voice growing louder and fiercer with every word until she was screaming. She slammed the floor with her fists suddenly, the bang echoed around eerily around the room.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, no call for that,' said a shocked Odd, holding his hands up soothingly. Aelita glared at him, breathing heavily. Then she turned her back to him, and stared pointedly at one of the scanners.

Sissi looked at Odd for understanding. He just rolled his eyes, and motioned for her to sit down. She did so, and with every second that passed, she knew they had one second less to save the world.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'You take the people out on the oval, I'll take Mr. Delmas,' Yumi gasped out to Ulrich, matching his breakneck pace with her loping one.

Ulrich nodded, and veered off. Yumi kept running in the direction of the front office.

'Need… to see… Mr. Delmas,' Yumi gasped at the receptionist, leaning on the door frame to catch her breath. The receptionist looked her up and down, smirking, and picked up the phone, holding a brief conversation.

'He'll see you now,' she said tonelessly, but her eyes mocked Yumi, as if she knew what was in for her. Which she did.

Yumi slipped into the principal's office, already making up a fabricated tale in her mind about some dangerous toxins in the air that had escaped from the science building.

'Mr. Delmas,' Yumi started, but her voice trailed off as she realised the Herve Pichon was grinning smugly at her, seated in front of the principal.

'Ah, Miss Ishiyama. How nice of you to drop by,' Mr. Delmas said stonily, motioning to the seat next to Herve. Yumi stared at him, and remained standing.

The fact that Herve was there gave her a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she carried on anyway.

'Mr. Delmas, sir, you've got to call in the students. Now.'

Jeanne-Pierre shook his head impatiently. 'Mr. Pichon here has just told me a story about you and your friends, Miss Ishiyama,' he said, not paying any attention to what she was saying.

The blood drained out of Yumi's face. 'What?' she whispered.

Mr. Delmas went on. 'Herve's story may have been a little far-fetched in some areas,' – here he frowned at Herve – 'but it otherwise fits everything your group has been up to – the mysterious disappearances to nowhere in particular, the strange behaviour of Mr. Dunbar, and, more recently, Mr. Belpois.'

Yumi shook her head violently, resolving to beat Herve up at the soonest opportunity presented. If there would be an opportunity presented.

'No, sir, I'll explain it all later, but now you need to call in the students. It's urgent!' Yumi cried out.

'Not until I get some explanation as to what's happening,' Mr. Delmas told her in a tone that brooked no argument.

Yumi could've punched Herve's lights out there and then, his grin was so infuriating. But she struggled to remain calm, and eventually picked the shortest way out of this mess.

'Fine, sir. You want an explanation? You'll get one,' Yumi said, taking a deep breath.

'Herve is a liar and a moron mixed in one, who has no idea what's going on. My group and I are fighting an evil virus called XANA, who wants to have world domination. XANA is currently launching his most powerful attack ever, in hopes of crushing us and the rest of humanity. We are trying to stop him. We have to go to a digital universe called Lyoko to stop him, and Aelita has to deactivate the tower before it's too late, and we all die,' Yumi said as coolly as possible.

Mr. Delmas blinked. So did Herve. 'Miss Ishiyama –'

But Yumi caught sight of something truly frightening. 'For goodness' sake sir, _look out the window_!' she said frantically, practically hopping on the spot.

Mr. Delmas glanced outside, and rushed to the window, dragging the curtains wide. Black, slimy-looking clouds were racing over the sky, quickly covering the sun, and casting darkness over the school. And the clouds were quickly expanding.

As he watched in horror, the air filled with an evil, mirthless chuckle. The clouds contracted, and a swirl was created in their midst. The swirl gradually grew in size, and whirled around faster and faster. Black lightning played across it, and a vicious wind howled through the school. Mr. Delmas turned away from the window, white-faced and shaking.

'I-I think I had better bring the students in,' he whispered, reaching for the microphone on his desk.

'Miss Ishiyama?' he asked, looking up. But she had already gone, and all she left behind was the fading scent of cherry blossom.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Ulrich dashed to the oval, where Jim was demonstrating how to run the track for a fitness class.

'Jim!' he shouted, waving his arms. A couple of students looked up, and then went back to watching Jim.

'Jim!' Ulrich shouted again, running over to Jim. The gym teacher stopped, irritated. Was it only Ulrich, or was there a chill breeze gathering?

'What do you want, Stern? Why aren't you in your dormitory?' Jim barked.

'You-you've got to bring the students in,' Ulrich gasped, looking imploringly into Jim's suspicious face.

'Why?' Jim asked. Ulrich groaned inwardly.

'Just do it, Jim!' he snapped.

'Yes, sir!' Jim said out of reflex, snapping to attention. Then he realised he was talking to a student, instead of a senior army officer.

'What? Why are you giving me orders in that tone, Stern?' Jim barked angrily.

'Please, Jim – all our lives depend on it!' Ulrich said. As he finished his sentence, the blue, cloudless-up-until-then sky darkened.

Jim looked up, shading his eyes. 'I don't remember a storm forecast,' he muttered.

Ulrich seized the chance. 'Exactly! The storm! It's a freak downpour! We need to get everybody inside, before it strikes!'

'Uh… of course, Stern,' said Jim, wondering how Ulrich managed to warn him about the storm so suddenly.

'All right, you lot! Get inside!' Jim roared at the class. But they weren't paying attention to him. They were gazing in wide-eyed wonder at the sky, which had bruised into an ugly purple, and now had black lightning lancing across it.

'Don't just stand there! Do you want to get electrocuted?' Jim roared at them again. They were jolted out of their reverie, and Ulrich, satisfied that he had done his job, ran off to the factory. Behind him, he heard Mr. Delmas' crackling voice sound throughout the PA system, and smiled.

He met up with Yumi in the forest, running alongside each other. 'That Herve!' Yumi shouted over at him angrily.

'What'd he do?'

'He snitched on us to Mr. Delmas!' Yumi seethed, heaving the manhole cover off the entrance ferociously.

'He did _what_?' Ulrich asked in disbelief, clambering in after Yumi.

'You heard,' Yumi said shortly.

There was no more conversation until they reached the scanner room.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

'Where _are_ they?' Aelita fumed, pacing around the room, as she had been wont to do when sitting got too boring.

'They'll be coming. You know Mr. Delmas – he's really stubborn,' Odd said wearily.

'I'm sure Daddy will see sense,' Sissi said brightly. At that moment, the light bulbs went out, and a low, evil voice sounded from the around them, and they all jumped. It was XANA.

'I have your friends captive. Give yourselves up on Lyoko, or I will execute them. You have three minutes,' XANA said, and with that, the lights flickered back on, illuminating their shocked faces.

'We've got no choice now,' Aelita said hoarsely.

'It could be a trap,' Odd said.

Aelita stared him down. 'And if it isn't…' she let her voice trail off.

Odd nodded miserably, but Sissi shook her head.

'He hasn't got them captive,' she said confidently. Aelita swung around to glare at her, one foot in a scanner.

'How do you know?' she demanded. Sissi smiled sweetly at her.

'Because they're coming down in the elevator.'

With that, the elevator rushed down, and opened to reveal a very tired-looking Ulrich and Yumi.

'Can we go now?' Yumi asked.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

A minute later, they were all standing on Lyoko. 'Where's the activated tower, Odd?' Aelita asked, as if it were just another ordinary XANA attack.

Odd concentrated, searching for the familiar sense of an activated tower. But, try as he might, he could find nothing.

'I… don't know,' he muttered finally.

'What do you mean, you don't know?' Yumi exploded.

Aelita shook her head in frustration. 'XANA must have blocked his power.'

'I can still detect where towers are, I just can't tell whether they're activated,' Odd offered. 'I'll take us to the closest one.'

Aelita nodded curtly, passing her hand over her star bracelet, and took off.

Sissi smoothed down her fuku, and took out her baton. 'Odd, you're riding with me,' she instructed him. When she had finished constructing her cloud of sparks, she pulled him on, and soared off. Odd barely had time to blink, let alone protest.

'Guess that leaves you and me then,' Yumi said, watching after their airborne friends. 'How are we going to manage that?'

Ulrich thought for a second. 'Well, there is _one_ way…' he said hesitantly. 'It might be a bit embarrassing…'

'We've got no time to lose, just do it!' Yumi snapped. Whatever she thought, nothing could have prepared her for what came next.

Without a word, Ulrich swept her up, bridal-style, in his capable arms, and ran off, leaving a fiery yellow blur behind him. Yumi took in a sharp breath, amazed at how fast Ulrich could go, and trying not to concentrate on the fact that she was pressed against Ulrich's body. Soon enough, she gave it up, and just tried to concentrate on not fainting there and then.

Ulrich, on his part, was secretly amazed by what he had done. He was _holding her in his arms_ – she must think he was such and idiot. He berated himself silently, but could not deny he was enjoying himself immensely, feeling their close proximity.

When they reached the tower, Ulrich gently set Yumi down on the ground, where she took a few minutes to compose herself.

'Nice move,' Odd muttered in Ulrich's ear as he and Sissi glided past. Ulrich half-scowled, half-grinned sheepishly.

'I could say the same for you two,' Ulrich whispered back, knowing Odd's extended hearing would pick it up. And, sure enough, judging by the horrified expression on Odd's face, he had.

Aelita spoke up. 'I can feel very strong pulsations. I could be wrong – but it seems… it seems that XANA has activated every single tower on Lyoko.'

This news was met with a stunned silence.

**Big cliffie there! I'll leave you to tell me what you think of it in your review!**


	23. Chapter 23

'But how did he do that

'But how did he do that?' Odd burst out, breaking the silence.

Aelita closed her eyes. 'I don't know – perhaps it had something to do with all the returns to the past we've been doing lately – or maybe he's found a new source of power.'

Even as she said it, the cogs in her brain were turning. A new source of power… what power was available?

'Hey, Aelita,' Yumi said worriedly, scanning the horizon. 'Where are all the monsters?'

Aelita's eyes flew open. Yumi was right. Where _was_ everything? She racked her thoughts – and it came to her in a sudden, horrifying flash of understanding.

She nearly collapsed on the spot, and settled for leaning heavily on Ulrich, the closest. He supported her, worried.

'Aelita. What's wrong?'

'The attack…' Aelita whispered, eyes glazed. Everything she heard and saw seemed far away.

'Yes?' Yumi asked impatiently.

'The attack – XANA somehow took his strength from the core of Lyoko… leaving only enough for a very short time…' Aelita's voice trailed off, and she turned away, ashamed and angry at herself for not foreseeing this, and not letting the others see the tears on her cheeks.

'Which means…' Ulrich said, eyes widening, unable to complete his sentence.

'Lyoko will disintegrate – with us in it,' Yumi finished, dazed. She, too, gripped Ulrich's arm for support and comfort. Ulrich, in return, unconsciously slipped it around her waist, trying to protect her from what would inevitably come.

'It is a perfect trap – XANA knew we would all go to Lyoko to stop him – when he had already escaped the supercomputer – he probably planned this all a long time ago, and was just waiting for the right moment,' Aelita said, her voice shaking. She was so _stupid_ to be so impatient, to not have thought it through – and now it was all for nothing.

Odd shook his head wordlessly, for once lost for words. He looked helplessly at Sissi.

Sissi was strangely satisfied – she knew that if she was to die, she had at least done something with her life.

'C'mon, people,' she said bracingly. 'We've still got a bit of time – we're not dead yet,' she said, waggling her fingers to underline her statement. Yumi shot her an incredulous look.

'Think,' urged Sissi. 'XANA's most probably left Dunbar and- I mean, William and Jeremie on Lyoko so they won't turn against him later. If we can free them, then maybe we can devirtualise each other on time to get back to Earth.'

Aelita nodded slowly. 'True.'

'So, can you get into your bubble thing?' Sissi asked impatiently. 'By the way, why aren't you in your bubble thing at the moment?'

'I am not in my _bubble thing_ because I updated the program to let me transform into my _bubble thing_ at will,' Aelita told her.

'Seriously, Aelita, when was the last time you slept?' Odd muttered as he was, once again, pulled up on a waiting cloud of sparks behind his once-mortal enemy.

'Well… er… shall we go again?' Ulrich muttered to Yumi, carefully avoiding her eyes.

With horror, he realised he had his arm around her waist. He snatched it back as if it burned, much to Yumi's surprise and intense disappointment.

'Oh, um, yeah,' she said quietly, looking at the ground. Ulrich picked her up much more carefully, and set off.

Up in the digital sky, Aelita was having a yelled conversation with Odd.

'So where are we going?' Odd enquired at twice his normal volume.

Aelita jabbed her finger at the digital sea. 'They're probably down there somewhere.'

Odd rolled his eyes. 'Where _exactly_?'

'I was hoping you would tell me that!' Aelita shouted back, exasperated.

'Oh,' Odd muttered, and he concentrated. Not very much, because he was perfectly sure XANA had blocked his power before. To his surprise, he felt the heat of two life-forms ripple under the mysterious waters.

He honed in on it, directing Sissi and her cloud of sparks. Ordinarily, Sissi would have protested at being treated in such a manner, but she sensed that now was not the time.

'They're directly below me,' Odd called to Aelita at last. 'How're we going to get down?'

Aelita tossed him a wink. 'Leave it to me.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Yumi and Ulrich arrived just in time to see Aelita swoop gracefully down toward the digital sea. For a second, they thought hr wings had malfunctioned, until they saw Aelita had folded them slightly behind her back, and wasn't struggling for control at all – it almost looked like she _wanted_ to die early.

'Aelita!' cried Yumi, lurching forward to prevent Aelita's mad descent.

Aelita shook her head slightly, determined not to break her concentration. Five more seconds and she would transform… she counted them silently in her head while plummeting toward the digital void.

When she was centimetres from the water, she felt her form split five ways. It was not painful; it just felt like she was very extensively stretching.

Five pink bubbles entered the water with barely a splash. Above them, the bubbles' friends watched on worriedly.

'Well, the land will disappear first, I'm pretty sure of that, so we had better go and collect Yumi and Ulrich,' Odd muttered in Sissi's ear. She nodded, trying to ignore the tingling that spread from his breath on her cheek, and swept down.

'Get on!' she called at them.

Yumi stared at the cloud. 'Get on _what_?'

'Just get on!' Sissi shouted, panicking, for, behind them, the land was gradually disappearing.

Ulrich leaped on without any trouble, settling in behind Odd. Yumi, however, had less luck, unused to riding on a cloud of nothing in particular. She slipped, lost her footing, and fell, desperately clutching at the sparks.

'Help!' she shouted, her fingers losing their grip on the smooth cloud.

'Yumi! I'm coming!' Ulrich shouted back, terrified that he would lose her again. He clambered quickly over, just in time to see Yumi's fingers slip off, scrabble uselessly at the air, and fall.

'Yumi!' Ulrich screamed, reaching for her diminishing form. He thought he could hear her shout 'Ulrich!' in return, but the furious buzzing in his ears drowned out everything else.

Yumi twisted around desperately, searching for a handhold, anything, that would stop her deadly descent. She spread herself out, attempting to slow down her freefall, knowing it was useless.

'Ulrich, I love you,' she croaked, tears falling up from her face. Then, her fevered brain made an effort, and sparked an idea.

She concentrated as hard as she could, knowing if she failed a second too late, she would pay for it with her life.

Slowly but surely, her body slowed down, and finally stopped. Yumi didn't dare turn around to see how far she was from the digital sea. She smiled, and thanked Aelita over and over for updating her telekinesis.

Ulrich, meanwhile, was inconsolable. He gripped the cloud so hard Sissi felt it as a sharp, wrenching pain in the back of her mind.

Then, to his utter relief, he saw her purple form being slowly lifted toward them. Never had he felt so overjoyed. He wanted to cheer. He wanted to get up and start dancing in victory. But, of course, he did none of this.

'Yumi,' he whispered, fighting back the tears that stung his eyes.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

At Kadic Junior High, it was pandemonium. People were screaming, communication had been cut off, and Mr. Delmas was frantically repeating into the PA system for everybody to calm down and get inside the hall, and for goodness' sake, make it fast.

Finally, when they were all assembled in the hall, and the head count was taking place, Mr. Delmas managed to calm the students down.

'What's happening?' quavered Milly Solovieff.

'Yeah, this isn't a normal storm!' chimed in another voice from the crowd of students milling around. This roused muttered agreement.

Mr. Delmas sighed heavily. 'If only I knew.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita sunk through the digital sea slowly. It was like a dream… She shook herself hastily, and looked down… or she would have, had she had eyes. However, as a bubble, she could see in all directions at once. It was most disconcerting.

Sure enough, a sleek, submarine-shape loomed out at her. She swooped excitedly toward it, sinking into the submarine wall as if it wasn't there.

'Jeremie,' she said quietly, looking at the blonde in front of her, hardly believing him to be real. 'And William,' she added as an afterthought.

They both stared at her sullenly, surprised at her sudden appearance. Aelita took advantage of this, hastily shaking all thoughts of her joy out of her, and concentrating on the plan. Only on the plan.

She rehearsed it in her head, barrelling at full speed at a shocked Jeremie. She steeled herself, and sank into him.

Almost immediately, she was surrounded by suffocating blackness.

'Well, I must say, you catch on quickly,' XANA commented casually in his disgusting, oily voice.

'I will defeat you, XANA! Jeremie is _mine_!' she said bravely, pushing out with all her might and dispelling some of the blackness.

The voice chuckled. 'Such wrath. But no, my dear, you cannot hope to compete with me.'

'Try me,' Aelita grunted, pushing harder, and harder. Try as she might, XANA would not let her past.

She felt despair engulf her, her attack weakening. It was all for nothing…

XANA sensed it, and gleefully struck out, overwhelming Aelita in shock. He smothered her, covering her completely, squashing her bubbles together. She could feel herself slowly disintegrating.

'Foolish girl…' The hiss sounded all around her. She gave herself up for lost… and a tiny flame of rebellion flared inside her. Push, don't pull, she repeated to herself, once again feeling like she could live again.

_Don't give up_… Franz Hopper and Jeremie, side by side, stood in her head, shining brightly and smiling at her, lending her strength. Gradually, she spread out, slowly but surely, forcing XANA back and out of Jeremie.

'What's this?' The black cloud boiled furiously, and resisted, but it could do nothing against the power of Aelita's love.

Finally, XANA was out of Jeremie's system. He gave a frustrated shriek at being thwarted once again, and flew apart into a million pieces.

Aelita floated out of Jeremie's body. He had fallen unconscious in the battle for his mind, and was lying on the floor, glasses askew. She quickly set to reviving William – a simple matter now that XANA had lost his advantage, and settled down to wait for Jeremie's revival, her heart singing.

**OK, OK… I promise the JxA fluff will come up next chapter – promise!!**

**In the meantime, you can complain about it in your reviews.**


	24. Chapter 24

Just decided to slip in a songfic

**Just decided to slip in a songfic… This is a sort of lifted-out-of-time moment, random JxA fluff… and no, I'm not putting off the final fight! D**

**The song's Last Night On Earth by Delta Goodrem (i.e. I don't own it).**

Aelita half-laughed, half-sobbed into Jeremie's designer suit, not caring that she was getting it wet, not caring that at that moment, XANA could be ripping the world as they knew it apart.

She was holding him again, holding him, and she never wanted to let go, knowing that it might be the last time they ever touched. The thought only made her cling tighter, her heart aching.

_It's the last night on earth  
Before the great divide_

Sobs racked her body as they hugged each other, feeling their love scream out in joy at being together once again. _This_ was how it should be, this was how it was supposed to be until the end of time.

Aelita couldn't believe that she had managed to survive without Jeremie _any_ time. She wished she had known him longer – there was quite a big possibility that they would only be reunited for less than a day, before XANA tore it away from them. Her hands shook as anger flooded through her body briefly.

_  
My hands are shaking time was  
Never on our side  
_

But Aelita didn't care, not at that moment anyway. At that moment, all she was aware of was that she held Jeremie Belpois in her arms once again, and she would enjoy every second they had together to the maximum.

_There's no such thing  
As a beautiful goodbye_

'Jeremie,' Aelita whispered, finally looking up from Jeremie's soaked shirt. 'Jeremie,' she repeated, tasting the word on her lips, tears filling her eyes anew.

_As an ordinary day  
I prayed for you a thousand times  
_

Jeremie smiled dazedly. All he remembered was black smoke rising out of the supercomputer, and his next conscious thought was Aelita throwing herself at him across a strange submarine, and burying herself in his arms, sobbing.

_  
It's never enough  
No matter how many times  
I try to tell you this is love_

His brain was just thinking up these facts in the face of an unexpected, enormous relief. He hugged her closer, savouring the moment, and hesitantly ran his fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes, smiling faintly. Growing bolder, Jeremie tilted her head up, until he was looking directly into her angel's face.

_  
If tomorrow never comes  
I want you to know right now that I  
I'm gonna love you until the day I die_

Aelita could barely breathe. She opened her eyes, laughing inwardly at the utterly shocked look on Jeremie's face. Then, an electric surge ran through her, possessing her with one, overpowering thought… _lean forward_.

_  
And if tomorrow falls asleep  
Can you hold me first  
I'm gonna love you like  
It's the last night on earth_

In that same, magical instant, Jeremie felt that same instinct jolt through him. He shut his eyes, leaned forward…

_  
Like it's the last night on earth  
_

Their lips met earlier than either of them expected, and the effect was a much, much deeper kiss than they had anticipated. Both froze for a second, shocked, then the sweet taste of the other's lips on theirs overpowered them.

_  
A penny for your thoughts  
A picture so it'll last  
Lets knock down the walls of immortality_

They pressed closer to each other, feeling if they were separated again, they would die, surely. Jeremie pressed the hand resting on Aelita's hair closer, so the kiss was deepened even further. Aelita went without resistance, and smiled into the kiss, enjoying the feel of Jeremie's lips sliding smoothly over hers.

_  
Your fingers on my skin  
Only you can hear my fear  
Only you can help me heal  
I see forever with you here  
_

Jeremie slid his hand so it was resting on Aelita's face. Irrevocably, he suddenly knew what was going on, and understood Aelita's pain and fear like nobody else could, and felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. He placed the other arm around her waist, knowing he would never muster up the courage to do something like that again.

_  
It's never enough  
No matter how many miles stand between us  
This is love  
_

They rested their foreheads against each other, gasping, when they came up to breathe. Aelita had looped her arms around Jeremie's neck – she didn't know why, it just felt right. Having caught her breath, she leaned in, but not enough to let their lips meet again. She nuzzled Jeremie's nose with hers, teasing him, thrills racing through her body.

_  
If tomorrow never comes  
I want you to know right now that I  
I'm gonna love you until the day I die  
And if tomorrow falls asleep  
Can you hold me first  
I'm gonna love you like  
It's the last night on earth  
Like it's the last night on earth_

Jeremie was having none of that. Now that he was caught up in the moment, there was nothing between him and holding Aelita's slim body for eternity. He leaned in, this time more gently than the rushed, clumsy attempt he had made before.

'Love you, Aelita,' he murmured, before kissing her once more. This time, it was short and sweet.

_  
It's never enough, no  
It's never enough  
It's never enough  
_

While they were still locked into that magical moment, Jeremie lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms now hanging loosely around his neck while he supported her thighs with his arms.

_  
The afterglow  
The horizon line  
The shadows fall  
Will you still be mine?  
Will you still be mine?  
Will you still be mine?  
I ask  
_

They broke apart again. This time, it wasn't only Aelita who was crying. 'Jeremie?' she whispered, looking into those beautiful blue eyes.

'Yeah?'

'If… if we…' her voice choked up with sobs, and she rested for a bit before continuing. 'If we… well, _die_, can I tell you something?'

'Of course, Aelita,' said Jeremie, bemused, head spinning by the events that had transpired.

'I love you, Jeremie,' Aelita said simply, leaning in for another kiss. 'Forever and ever.'

_  
If tomorrow never comes  
I want you to know right now that I  
I'm gonna love you until the day I die  
(And if tomorrow falls asleep)_

'Me too, Aelita,' Jeremie whispered, stopping her eager lips with a slim finger.

Aelita paused. 'You promise?'

Jeremie removed his finger, tilting so Aelita had no choice but to kiss him again. Not that she minded.

'Yeah. I promise.'

_  
'Til the day I die  
Can you hold me first  
I'm gonna love you like  
It's the last night on earth  
Like it's the last night on earth_

Aelita felt the tears seeping out from her eyelids. But this time they were mostly happiness. Jeremie felt them, and he broke away, wiping her tears away with a gentle finger.

'If you die, so will I,' he said sincerely, looking into her eyes. Aelita nodded, looking down. Before, she had simply looked at love as just another emotion. But now she knew.

_  
It's the last night on earth_

She knew, because she was completely in love with Jeremie Belpois. And nothing would ever take that away again. Especially not some stupid computer virus. She smiled sadly, and kissed him again.

_  
It's never enough_

Meanwhile, William looked on uncomfortably. This was _very_ awkward, even for him. But he didn't dare break into Jeremie and Aelita's moment. Something beautiful and terrible blazed in both their eyes, and he wasn't about to take it on.

He sighed, changed into smoke and floated fluidly up to the surface, ready to rejoin the world at large as William Dunbar again.

**Hmm… maybe that dragged on a bit… oh well. Review please! And sorry for the late update, my teacher decided to drag on an assignment and… I won't go into details.**


	25. Chapter 25

Sissi shrieked as she saw the black stream of smoke make a direct beeline for her

An ear-splitting crash cracked throughout the stunned silence in the Kadic gym. Everybody looked up fearfully to the groaning ceiling, which looked as if it was going to give in any moment. Ominous cracks had appeared in it and the bulging walls, it was as if they were being squeezed, tighter and tighter.

The time for screaming and chaos had passed – instead people sobbed quietly, holding each other while wondering whether they would ever live to see the sun again.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Sissi shrieked as she saw the black stream of smoke emerge from the digital sea and make a direct beeline for her cloud. She cowered behind Odd, who rolled his eyes.

'Hey, William,' greeted Odd cheerfully, shifting over to make room for the smoke. Sissi stared at him in amazement, and then at the stream of smoke.

'W-William?' she stuttered, her voice still squeaky. The stream of smoke paused, and slowly built up until it was roughly her height and weight. Then it solidified into William Dunbar.

'Hi Odd,' William returned drily. 'Long time no see.'

'Mm. Pity that,' said Odd, grinning. Meanwhile, around him, the shocked silence was dispersing.

'William!' Yumi cried out, throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly, much to Ulrich's discomfort. She felt so relieved, as if a weight had been lifted off her. William was back, XANA would be defeated and all would be well.

'Yumi!' William hugged back with equal enthusiasm, whereupon Yumi carefully disengaged herself, settling back into her former position next to Ulrich.

Ulrich arranged his face in what he hoped was a pleasant expression. 'So Aelita cured you?'

'Yep. She and Jeremie are having a "private moment",' he replied, winking at Yumi and moving back to slip an arm around her waist. She grinned, twisting away before he could get a proper grip. Still the same William.

Ulrich misinterpreted the grin, scowling and turning away. 'They'd better hurry – Lyoko is about to disintegrate! With us in it,' he added for emphasis.

'Relax! We'll just devirtualise each other and then we'll beat XANA up on Earth,' William told him simply, still not able to believe that he was in complete control of himself again. Even though he didn't remember anything about being possessed – the last thing he remembered was the Scyphozoa floating ominously behind him in Sector 5.

Ulrich scowled, and opened his mouth. Fortunately, at that moment, Aelita, looking blissfully happy, rose out of the digital sea with barely a ripple, wings beating and holding in her arms…

_Jeremie_. Jeremie Belpois in the flesh **(A/N Close enough, anyway)**, the reason that had kept them all fighting for all those dreary months… Jeremie was surveying them with a look of disbelief on his face. Then his face broke into a brilliant smile. Everybody beamed fondly, arms instinctively reaching out to him.

Sissi cut in before he could get a word out. 'We can exchange niceties when we're all safe on Earth, thank you very much!' Her voice was high pitched with anxiety.

'Good point,' Jeremie said, dazed.

'I'll go first,' Yumi volunteered. 'Aelita…'

Aelita was still gazing at Jeremie. Yumi coughed politely.

'Aelita?'

Without warning, Aelita's arm flicked up, palm facing outward toward Yumi's chest while her face still gazed intently into Jeremie's.

The pink energy slammed into her, sending electricity jolting through. She gasped for air, and opened her eyes.

She was still on Lyoko. 'Hit me again,' she said urgently.

In response, Odd spun around and fired a laser arrow into William. The latter winced, rubbing his arm. 'Ouch,' he said mildly.

'What's wrong?' Ulrich asked, with a dawning horror at what was happening.

Aelita finally tore her eyes away from Jeremie's, her face had paled. 'I should have seen this.'

'Seen _what_?' Ulrich asked impatiently, confused.

'XANA cut off the scanners.'

'What?' Sissi said, her voice gradually growing in volume and pitch.

'We're doomed,' Aelita said blankly, hardly daring to believe her own words.

'No! It can't be! I can't die!' Sissi wailed, clutching Odd. She sobbed dramatically. Odd was too shocked to swat her away.

Yumi stared blankly at Aelita, processing the words but not understanding them. 'We're… going to die,' she repeated dully.

Aelita nodded, turning her freshly tear-streaked face into Jeremie's shoulder, burying it there.

They were together for such a short time – was this how it was going to end? XANA would win, and they would perish on Lyoko, all their efforts gone to waste…

As she thought those terrifyingly final thoughts, Lyoko began to vibrate.

'What's happening?' Sissi shrieked anew.

'Lyoko's breaking up,' Aelita murmured.

'So what do we _do_?' Sissi wailed.

'We wait,' Aelita said as calmly as she could.

'Wait for _what_?' Sissi persisted.

'Death,' Aelita said simply, hugging Jeremie closer to her, closing the conversation. Sissi was rendered speechless, and turned around, appealing to the others for salvation from this terrible fate.

She was met with blank stares, devoid of hope. She gave one last great wail, and sank to her knees, sobbing lustily, and waiting for the inevitable.

'Don't cry, little friend of Aelita's,' a deep voice murmured. Everybody's head jerked up, eyes flaring in wild hope.

Franz Hopper was rising out of the ground as the great white bubble of essence. Her glowed powerfully, shimmering, a beacon of hope.

There was no time to lose – a black void was fast swallowing up the horizon. 'What do we do?' asked Aelita urgently.

The bubble hesitated. 'I have a way out.'

'What?' Sissi turned her face to him, giving him her undivided attention now.

'I always leave myself a back door,' Franz admitted. 'And now, it seems, is the time to use it.'

'So take us through!' William said, unable to grasp why Franz had not already done so.

Franz Hopper hesitated again. 'It is not that simple. I designed it only for myself - I-I can only take one, or two of you at the most,' he said gently. Everybody froze.

'So, five of us have to be left on Lyoko to die?' Aelita said, trembling at the thought.

'Yes.'

Aelita moaned, before she noticed everybody staring at her and Jeremie. 'What?' she asked self-consciously, already knowing the answer, and dreading it.

'You two have to go,' Ulrich said tonelessly.

Horror welled in Aelita's body. 'No!' she burst out, at precisely the same time as Jeremie, unable to make the terrible choice.

'Aelita.' Yumi spoke kindly, holding the smaller girl's gaze with hers. 'You have to go. You and Jeremie are the only ones who will know how to defeat XANA.'

'But… but I _can't_!' Aelita cried out, torn apart inside, knowing that she couldn't argue against the logic.

'Aelita, you must.'

'No! I won't! I _can't_…' Aelita's voice trailed off into a sob.

'Aelita. Come. Your friends have made their sacrifice, you cannot afford to waste it.' Franz Hopper intervened gently. Aelita ignored him, her arms outstretched toward her friends, appealing to them.

Odd stepped forward, shoving Aelita and Jeremie firmly toward the white bubble. The black void was rushing ever closer.

'Go on,' he said, for once without a sparkle of merriness dancing in his eyes. But then, who could blame him? In a daze, Aelita stumbled forward, helped by a silent, shocked Jeremie. Aelita turned a tearful face to her friends, for the last time.

'Aelita?' Yumi asked quietly, moving closer to Ulrich.

'Yes?' Aelita's voice trembled.

'Tell… Hiroki and the rest I love them,' Yumi whispered, closing her eyes. Without a word, Ulrich held her, his face still carefully expressionless.

Aelita was in anguish. This was not the way it was meant to be. 'I _will_ find a way to see you again! You won't die! I promise!' Aelita called, trying her utmost to believe herself. The white bubble was swirling anxiously around her, wanting to be off.

'Aelita, you must hurry.'

Jeremie spoke now, his voice hollow. 'I'm sorry, everybody. For being such a bad friend.'

Yumi smiled weakly, her eyes still closed, tears gathering at the corners. 'Don't worry. You weren't.'

Aelita turned back to Franz Hopper, unable to bear it any more, wanting to be off before her resolve failed her.

'Let's go,' she whispered blankly, her mind unable to accept that she was leaving five of her very best friends to their deaths. Tears filled her eyes anew.

She took one last glance at her friends. She saw Ulrich bury his face into Yumi's hair, and whisper something. She saw Yumi's body stiffen, then relax as she whispered something back, and they held each other even closer, for their last moments of life.

She saw Sissi and Odd, struck dumb, but strangely peaceful at the same time. She saw William, shocked and silent – how cruel it was, to tear away his life when it had only just restarted.

She saw them all, she loved them all. And now they were all going to die. But, as she reached out to them, she was engulfed in a white light, and was borne back to Earth, unable to hold back one last scream of anguish.

**Yay dead people…**

**Anyway, review pretty please!**


	26. Chapter 26

**I **_**am**_** sorry about the whole mess of the 25/26th chapter… Big screw-up, big apology… but hopefully this chapter will set things right!**

Everything passed Aelita by in a blur. This could be attributed to the fact that she was travelling back to Earth wrapped in a big white bubble that was her father, but in this case, it wasn't.

In her mind, she was replaying over and over the despairing faces of her friends as she watched their gradually shrinking forms as she raced away from them with Jeremie. She kept telling herself that it was for the better, but it didn't stop her heart tearing in two.

It was burned into her mind – Sissi in her pink fuku, huddling with Odd the purple cat, William in his wonderfully restored white and blue jumpsuit with his trusty meat-cleaver of a sword by his side, Yumi, typically beautiful in her flowery suit holding Ulrich for the last time in her short life. And, behind them, a rushing darkness…

She moaned, writhing in agony at her own decision. Jeremie gently took her hand, and she clutched his as if it were a lifeline, as pain and consolations alike passed, wordless, between them.

'Nearly there,' Franz Hopper rumbled, his voice emanating from the white light which was wrapped all around her. You could tell he was trying to be cheerful for the sake of his daughter.

Aelita only nodded. Unspeakable shame washed over her, choked her, she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, lash out at her father's essence, hurt him as deeply as she was. How _could_ he, her own father, have forced her to make such a decision? Jeremie, sensing her discomfort and anger, gently squeezed her hand. She relaxed slightly, knowing he, at least, understood her pain.

'Why?' she asked simply, unable to get past the images that had been burned into her brain, the looks on her friends' faces as they tried to be brave for her sake.

Jeremie shook his head, overcome with grief. He hugged Aelita to him, and Aelita rested against his chest, knowing he was all she had in the world now.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

A single shriek. That was all it took.

Someone, somewhere in the crowd of terrified students milling around, somebody had finally snapped and shrieked hysterically.

As if that were a cue, the walls and ceiling of the Kadic assembly hall began to shake, and squeeze in, tighter and tighter, until, with a huge crash, the left wall gave in.

The students and staff stared in shock at the huge, jagged hole, and the crumbled remains of the wall. With another groan, another wall gave in, thumping down with force enough to wake the students from their stupor.

Like spooked animals, they raced toward the holes, desperate to get out so as to not get crushed by the ominously bulging ceiling. However, they soon stopped as soon as they reached the rubble of the walls.

Black smoke was snaking in. Black smoke, sentient smoke, smoke that had no reason to exist. The students leaped back as if they had been burned.

Almost immediately, the ceiling ceased to groan, and the only sound was the hissing of the smoke sliding slowly through the air toward the petrified people. It encircled them, jabbing at those who dared to step out of line.

The smoke spoke, in a soft, deadly voice. 'Where… is… the girl?'

Mr. Delmas, feeling it was his duty, spoke up, his voice trembling. 'Wh-what girl?'

The smoke roiled in anger. 'Stupid human! The pink-haired artificial one, the one who calls herself Aelita, the one who's father created Lyoko!'

Mr. Delmas could make neither head nor tail of what this smoke was saying, although he did catch the name of one of his students. 'What are you?' he asked in a small voice. 'What are you and what do you want?' All around him, students stared at him with huge, terrified eyes, while Jim was hovering protectively behind him.

The smoke hissed its anger. 'That is none of your business! All that matters is _where the girl is_!'

'Look, we don't know!' Jim spoke up loudly. 'And I don't know what sort of a prank you think you're playing, mister, but I think you had better hoof it out of here right now before I get angry!'

The students gasped.

The smoke boiled in rage. 'Moronic being! How dare you! I will deal with you later… last, perhaps… it will be satisfying to kill you,' it subsided into an evil cackle.

At these words, the students shrank back in horror, too terrified to talk.

The smoke appeared satisfied. It once again addressed Mr. Delmas. 'Now… _where is the girl_?'

'I-I don't know,' Mr. Delmas said quietly.

The smoke, to everybody's surprise, seemed satisfied with his answer. 'So she hasn't come back? Of course, of course… the plan was foolproof; she is dead with all her little friends… just needed to make sure… they did put up quite a fight though… even Franz Hopper can't…' It seemed to be muttering to itself.

Mr. Delmas was stunned. 'You _killed_ her?'

The smoke gave a sneering laugh. 'Of course. She was in the way, as were all her friends – the annoying Japanese girl, for one, and her boyfriend were quite a struggle to overcome, they wouldn't give up without a fight. Then there was my former slave, and that idiotic boy with the ridiculous hair, they fought too. Brave, but extremely useless. And the last one, dear Pinky…'

Mr. Delmas stared at XANA with dawning comprehension, with burning eyes. 'You _murdered_… my daughter?'

'Oh, is she your daughter? Hmm… you do share the same idiocy, I'll admit…'

Mr. Delmas had long since given his daughter up to have been caught in the freak storm when he realised she was not among the terrified students gathering in the hall. He had mourned her quietly, and realised that none of her new found friends had been there either. And now that he knew their terrible fate, anger that knew no bounds raged inside him.

He stepped forward. 'You monster,' he said quietly. 'I'll kill you. I'll kill you as you killed my daughter.'

The smoke chuckled, unperturbed. 'As I said.'

He took another step forward, now mere inches from the crackling smoke. 'You-'

'Now, now, mustn't get too close, can we?' XANA taunted. Before Mr. Delmas could react, lightning whipped out, sending him flying into his students, smoking and unconscious, glasses and hair askew.

Jim cried out and hurried to his boss, bending over him and checking his pulse. He was still alive.

'Oh, he'll live. But not for long. Hmm… I feel somewhat out of place…' XANA seemed to consider something for a few minutes while he was watched by numerous wide eyes. Finally, with a chuckle, the smoke straightened.

'Yes…perhaps being killed by one of your own kind will help you on your way?' XANA asked politely. As the students and staff watched in horror, the smoke slowly piled together until it took a teenager's shape.

The boy was far from human, this was clear. Pure white skin, flawless features, a shining shock of perfectly straight black hair… he might have been perfect had it not been for the dark shadow lingering around him, making his skin almost grey, the sense of danger that permeated his features, the hate and lust for power and, most frightening of all, pure insanity burning in his eyes – his eyes, that, instead of having a normal white, were a deep, dark, bottomless black, with the exception of a faint red symbol in its depths.

He was clad in plain black clothes. As the students watched, a black nimbus ignited around his right hand. Looking almost bored, he stepped forward to Mr. Delmas, pale hand raised slightly.

'No!' someone shouted in the background. XANA slowly raised his eyes to the culprit.

'No?' he asked softly. 'Why ever not? In a few minutes, you will all be lying dead upon the floor – why not start with the fat one?'

Like lightning, his hand flicked up. There was a rushing sound, and the smell of burned flesh tainted the air. The students dropped their shocked eyes to a large hole in the middle of Jeanne-Pierre's chest.

'Mr. Delmas, sir?' Jim's desperate voice broke the silence. 'Mr. Delmas!' Mr. Delmas's eyes stared blankly ahead, as XANA began to laugh, his voice echoing eerily off the ruined walls.

'He's… dead,' Jim said, his voice breaking on the last word. Behind him, the inhuman boy's laughter petered out as his eyes flared red, and the black glow spread to his entire body.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita was jerked out of her stupor by an unnatural rumbling sound. It got louder and louder, until it hurt her eardrums and her teeth rattled in her jaw.

'What's happening?' she screamed, clutching Jeremie.

Franz Hopper replied, he sounded frantic. 'XANA must be destroying the supercomputer! We must hope for the best, and hold on!'

With shock, Aelita looked down and noticed her shaking form was shifting from her Lyoko outfit to her Earth one, and back again. Once or twice, she went completely transparent.

She reached out instinctively for Jeremie, and such a violent wave of nausea went through her that she almost threw up. She decided not to move again, and remained frozen in her position.

She turned her eyes forward. She could just make out a chink of light, getting smaller and smaller, and she immediately knew it was their passage back to Earth, that diminishing sliver of light. She willed herself forward, rushing with inhuman speed, the vibration rattling her very bones.

They weren't going to make it. That much Aelita saw. She cried out, clawing at her last chance for freedom, for that one bit of reconciliation she could find for her friends' sacrifice, ignoring the sick feeling it gave her.

With a roar, Franz Hopper hurled his daughter and Jeremie forward, toward the light, realising that he could not make it. They catapulted through the air, zooming toward the tiny fragment of light, and shooting through just as it vanished.

Aelita opened her eyes. She was in what was once the scanner room. Beside her, Jeremie was also stirring. She looked at him, her eyes filling with tears, and stood up unsteadily.

Her father had died to give them hope. Her friends had sacrificed themselves to save her. She felt like a murderer. Without warning, her legs gave way. A pair of arms caught her before she fell down, and without warning, Jeremie kissed her fiercely. She responded, setting her arms on his shoulders.

'Don't do this to yourself, Aelita,' he said, looking at her intensely when they broke away. 'At least we have each other.'

She sighed, and averted her gaze. 'Survivor's guilt,' she murmured.

There was silence, and Jeremie abruptly said, 'How are we going to defeat XANA?'

Aelita looked up again. 'I-I don't know,' she whispered.

And then the factory started collapsing.

**Dramatic! I glory in cliffhangers…**

**Review, pretty please! (with low-fat sugar on top!)**


	27. Chapter 27

Aelita looked up, surprised, when the rumbling first started

Aelita looked up, surprised, when the rumbling first started. When a brick whistled past, so close it ruffled her hair, she snapped to, seizing Jeremie's wrist as they dashed for the elevator.

She slapped the button impatiently, looking up at the wreckage of the ceiling. Large chunks of plaster were falling in; the scanners were now completely ruined. She groaned, willing the elevator to hurry up.

At last, the elevator pulled up. They quickly jumped in, praying that they would get out alive.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

The boy crouched over his last victim. True to his word, it was Jim Morales. XANA chuckled gently, starting a monologue with Jim's corpse.

'Mm… shouldn't have defied me like that, eh? I must say, you didn't even scream. That was frustrating, even for me. It was pretty pathetic when you were crying over your boss though…' XANA continued to mumble on incoherently, the mad spark in his eyes burning brighter than ever.

'Haven't fed so heavily in a while… going to need more energy and food to stay on Earth now on… mm-hm, delicious, delicious…' XANA smacked his lips.

'Better go check on the factory now and make sure that idiotic Franz didn't come out – can't be trusted, not even now… I'll come back to eat you later, bye-bye!' With that, XANA cast one last fond glance at Jim before slipping out the door, his stomach bulging slightly.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita and Jeremie emerged in the sewers. Just in time, too - behind them, the factory was only so much twisted rubble.

'Where to now?' Jeremie inquired, out of breath.

Aelita gasped her answer out, already on the move. 'The hall.'

Some time later, they arrived at the school gates, staring in wonder at the once-well-kept buildings that were now crumbled, burned and reduced to ashes in many places.

They found the assembly hall, the most sickening of them all. They paused on the threshold, and then Aelita took a breath and slowly pushed the wrecked door aside.

It slammed off its hinges onto the floor, where it raised dust clouds. The crash echoed eerily in the stunned silence.

'They… they're…' Aelita choked.

'Gone,' Jeremie completed blankly.

It was just like a scene from the worst horror movie ever. Mangled corpses lay all around them. Here and there, Aelita recognised a few faces, in most cases they were mauled beyond belief, blood pooling around everywhere, its sickly smell clogging the air.

They picked their way through the corpses and rubble, trying not to be sick on the spot. The final straw was when they reached the hole in the western wall.

Sprawled there were the bodies of Milly Solovieff and Tamiya Diop. Terror was written clearly on their dead faces, their wide, blank eyes. They were clutching each other's hands, friends even in death.

Milly in particular was very distressing – her neck was twisted and snapped at an impossible angle, her mouth open in a soundless scream. It appeared that she had thrown herself over Tamiya in an effort to protect her. Aelita fell to her knees, sobbing.

Jeremie, a little green as well, kneeled beside her, rubbing her shoulders bracingly, kissing the top of her head. 'Come on… it's all right, I'm here… be strong for me…' he murmured over and over again, feeling helpless, feeling the tears of weariness and grief pricking at his own eyes as he thought of all the lives lost – in particular, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd. Their smiling faces danced tauntingly in front of his eyes, torturing him.

He screwed them shut, trying not to scream. He hugged Aelita close, taking comfort in her warmth, rocking her. Together they wept, two lonely figures in a mass of carnage.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

XANA surveyed the factory coolly – or, rather, what was left of it. He smiled, baring his teeth in satisfaction. Suddenly, he threw his head back, laughing insanely. Black lightning flashed in response, thunder rumbled. He laughed and laughed, never running out of breath, laughing in sickening triumph.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita stood unsteadily up, averting her eyes from the wreckage all around her. She focused on Jeremie's face for support. 'Why?' she whispered.

Jeremie shook his head, too nauseated for words. 'Aelita?' he finally whispered after a moment of mutual mourning.

'Yes?'

'If anything happens, you know I love you, right?' Jeremie's eyes were anxious, pleading, sad, and, most of all, full of love.

Aelita smiled weakly. 'Of course, Jeremie.'

Jeremie smiled back. 'Good.'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Upon returning to the Kadic Hall, XANA stopped in his tracks. The porcelain boy lifted his nose and sniffed deliberately. Once was enough.

'There is still somebody _alive_ inside…' he breathed, breaking into a clumsy jog, hindered as he was by his belly. 'But not for long!' He broke into a merry laugh as he tripped along, already imagining how he would kill this new intruder.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita frowned, sitting up. 'What's that noise?'

Jeremie listened for a few seconds, growing paler. 'Footsteps. Hide!'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

XANA stomped as loudly as he could, wanting to hear his victim's words. To his intense delight, there were _two_ voices. Two voices meant two people, and two people meant… he licked his lips. The symbolism was all too clear. Abandoning play, he sped up into a hunter's running crouch.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Jeremie barely had time to throw himself in front of Aelita before XANA burst through the door.

His eyes were glowing; his hair was even more lustrous than before. His mouth was stretched in an anticipating smile. His very being called dark good health. Jeremie shuddered. Something about the eyes… he would not let this thing touch Aelita.

'XANA,' he called. At his name, XANA snarled in fury, running over to Jeremie faster than Jeremie would have thought possible. Jeremie barely had time to register what was happening before he was hoisted by the neck and flung brutally away. He saw the wall rushing to meet him, and thought, _Aelita, I'm so sorry_…

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Aelita was crushed by Jeremie's weight. She could hear and see nothing, but when Jeremie called XANA's name, she froze in terror, replaying the faces of the mangled corpses over and over in her head. Then she thought of Yumi, Ulrich and Odd, and her resolve steeled.

Then, abruptly, Jeremie was lifted off her. A heartbeat later, an ominous crack sounded. Aelita scrambled to her feet. All that mattered was that crumpled blue form against the wall.

'Now we're alone,' XANA said softly behind her. A cold, iron hand came down on her shoulder…

**Haha, guess what? I found out there's this muesli bar called a 'XANABAR'! I tried some, it tastes all right… I suppose…**

**Sorry if you were a bit nauseated about the whole corpses thing… blame The Mummy, not me.**

**Reeeeevieeeeeew!**


	28. Chapter 28

Big, big apology for the appalling lack of updation

**Big, **_**big**_** apology for the appalling lack of updation. Homework explosions are horrid, aren't they? Anyway, I'll keep you waiting no longer…**

Aelita wrenched her shoulder from that iron-cold grasp, running over to where Jeremie was sprawled against the wall. Nothing mattered but that single prone figure with blood running through his beautiful blonde hair…

But she was stopped short by the most perfect human she had ever seen. He appeared suddenly in front of her, seizing both her shoulders, making sure she was looking into his deep, terrible eyes.

'Hello Aelita,' XANA said sweetly, in a musical, soothing voice, although his eyes flared with a terrible hunger.

'XANA,' Aelita said curtly, struggling to get free and looking down to avoid his eyes.

XANA watched her amusedly for a few seconds, before inquiring curiously, 'Aren't you afraid that I'm going to kill you?'

Aelita only grunted, redoubling her efforts. She actually managed to get a shoulder free, her eyes fixated on Jeremie.

'None of that,' XANA said, slapping her across the face with his now-free hand. She gasped with the intensity, one hand automatically reaching up to the welt on her cheek.

'Now, look at me,' he said in a deep, commanding voice that sounded wrong coming from a boy's mouth. He jerked her chin up, holding her eyes with his. Aelita tried to convey as much hate as she could muster into her gaze.

XANA chuckled gently, and paused, studying her face before suddenly asking, 'What say you, Aelita Hopper, to joining me?', lifting a pale hand to his own cheek and stroking it, before moving it to hers, trailing his fingers over her flushed skin.

The question caught Aelita off guard. 'Never!' she spat after a moment to get over the shock, appalled that he would even suggest such a thing.

XANA's eyes burned. 'Really?'

And suddenly Aelita was falling into a deep, dark pool that were his eyes. Suddenly, she felt that she would do anything that he asked. She half-smiled, lifting a hand to where his was still resting on her cheek…

But a small grain of resistance still remained. She frowned, concentrated… and it was as if she could spot a single flaw in an otherwise-perfect painting, a scratch on a diamond… She focused on the flaw, struggling free of XANA's control.

'No…' she groaned, feeling herself fall back under the deep, dark waters of hypnotisation.

XANA smiled then, jerking her forward. His lips crashed onto hers with amazing speed. Aelita was dumbstruck by yet another unexpected event in a nightmare that would never end. She felt the cold, cold feel of his lifeless lips on hers, and slowly felt herself fall under his spell, never to be recovered.

XANA smiled wider, breaking the contact. He peered into Aelita's eyes, still smiling merrily. Yes, they were blank and glazed, with his own symbol floating in those naïve green depths. XANA clapped his hands in glee, laughing aloud.

'You see, my dear, with power like yours it was _much_ too dangerous to have you running about. You could have done anything with those strange human emotions boiling inside you,' he explained happily. Aelita stared straight ahead, unresponsive.

XANA stroked her hair. 'Little Aelita. What a delightful twist, with you under my control. Now that I have your power, I will truly be unstoppable!'

XANA laughed maniacally, and bent his head down, examining her face dispassionately. Then he stroked her cheek again nonchalantly. 'Foolish humans,' he said softly.

PARAGRAPH BREAK

Jeremie stirred, stars flashing in front of his eyes. His head was throbbing, somewhat distractedly. He smelled blood, and remembered enough medical education to lie there for a minute, and wait for his state to settle down. The blood, he realised later, was coming from his own head – his hair was slick against his head, and red liquid pooled all around him.

He turned his head ever so slightly to the right, wincing at the pain, wondering where he was. He espied a pink figure, standing next to a black one and the name Aelita floated into his mind…

Aelita! An electric shock ran through him, replenishing his memories with one painful jolt. He felt for his glasses on his nose, and was shocked to discover they had shattered. He decided not to risk standing up just yet, and decided on the best course of action when _XANA kissed Aelita_.

He was stunned, unable to move. It was as if XANA had thrown him against the wall again, only much, much worse. More like ten, diamond-hard, spiked, acidic walls. Emotion flooded his muscles, and his mind boiled with anger and pain. It took all his self-restraint not to yell out, as, he reasoned with himself, it would probably only result in his death.

But then a glazed look came into Aelita's eyes, one that Jeremie had seen once before – when XANA used him to bewitch Sissi on Lyoko. He shuddered at the memory, and knew he had to do something. He groaned silently. If only he wasn't so _useless_… Nevertheless, he summoned up the willpower to speak.

'Aelita,' he croaked. With eerie synchronisation, XANA and Aelita's heads turned toward him. Aelita's face was blank, while XANA's was absolutely delighted with gross joy.

'Aelita… this is Jeremie. Jeremie… Belpois. Don't listen to him… don't… listen…' The mere effort of talking left Jeremie utterly nauseated. He ploughed on.

'Aelita,' he whispered, 'Aelita, I love you… come back, Aelita…' He coughed, and was shocked to see blood spatter out of his mouth.

'Aelita…'

PARAGRAPH BREAK

The strange thing in the corner was stirring, where it seemed to be dead before. He was calling a name – Aelita. It rang faint bells in Aelita's mind, ever so faintly through the thick cloud that commanded her to do one thing – serve XANA. She looked on dispassionately, until four simple words smashed XANA's control so completely and utterly she would never fall under it again.

'Aelita, I love you.'

These four words broke through her mind like a ray of brilliant sunshine through clouds, breaking the haze into a million wisps. _Jeremie_. She gasped, running toward him.

But XANA got there first. 'That wasn't very nice,' he said softly into Jeremie's face. Jeremie's eyes were glazed, it was obvious it was an effort just to remain conscious.

'Jeremie!' Aelita screamed.

Jeremie's head snapped up. 'Aelita?' he breathed, a smile breaking over his bloodstained face, the face that Aelita loved so much. She stumbled forward, arms outstretched.

'None of that,' XANA said briskly, snapping Jeremie's neck forward. The gruesome crack echoed like a gunshot. Jeremie's body crumpled, and Aelita screamed her agony. It was as if a part of her had been torn out. No, _all_ of her.

'Jeremie!' she shrieked again, breaking into a run, shoving XANA out of the way with a strength that surprised herself. Surprisingly, XANA stood back and simply observed, smiling to himself.

She threw herself down next to him, heedless of the blood that splashed up when she knelt down. She took Jeremie's head in her arms, cradling it. But it was too late – his eyes were closed with that final, peaceful smile on his beautiful face.

She screamed again, collapsing completely, her head resting next to Jeremie's, tears seeping out and mixing with his blood, turning it a pale red, almost pink.

Her scream petered out, and she lay there, sobbing silently at the loss of the one thing that had kept her going.

'Why are you upset? He would have died anyway, and now there is nobody standing between you and sweet, sweet power…' XANA said softly. Aelita paid him no attention at all, and XANA, with a dramatic sigh, rolled his eyes and studied his immaculate nails pointedly.

Then, quite suddenly, amidst her misery, Aelita's thoughts flashed to what her friends would do if they were there, and suddenly they _were_ there, ghostly apparitions of her mind, starting transparent but then slowly gathering substance and colour. But strangely, Aelita felt no twisting pain, merely a calm sense of peace and happiness.

Distantly she saw XANA start up with an expression of shock and horror on his face, but she was protected in her little bubble of strength and sunshine.

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, William, Jeremie… they all stood in a semicircle around her, as she had seen them last, in full Lyoko uniform, smiling at her, lending her their strength and love.

Yumi moved first, sweeping over in that long, elegant stride of hers, kneeling beside Aelita's tear-streaked face, gently wiping the tears and grime away with long, delicate fingers. She whispered soothingly into Aelita's ear until the smaller girl stopped sobbing and shaking with tears and exhaustion. Then, smiling, her mission over, Yumi moved back.

Ulrich came next, sidling over silently to stand next to Aelita, smiling gently down at her, holding out a hand to help her get up. Aelita managed a weak smile back, and Ulrich smiled wider, stepping back.

Odd danced up next, his face all laughs and chuckles. He was too restless to be in one place, preferring instead to dance around Aelita, grinning like an idiot, carolling in a loud, tuneless, achingly familiar voice while everybody winced.

It was only after he tripped over his own feet, and Yumi had to drag him back, that he finally went, scowling. Aelita almost cracked a laugh.

Sissi didn't even bother to step forward; her face was almost purple with rage. She shrieked in her best fingernails-on-blackboard voice for Aelita to get up 'right this instant, you hear?!' She waved her hands about, screeching, while Odd, next to her, mouthed a very good impression that had everybody, including Aelita, chuckling, and Sissi in bewilderment.

William launched into a speech almost as long as Sissi's, although considerably more gentle on the ears, although no less boring. In his deep, commanding voice, he reasoned gently with her, scolding mildly. Odd and Ulrich yawned pointedly, and Yumi shot them glares.

But his voice faded away when Jeremie stepped forward, and suddenly everybody faded away, giving them privacy. But Aelita knew they would be back.

'Aelita,' Jeremie said simply, and that was enough to get Aelita's eyes flowing. Jeremie looked shocked at the tears seeping out of her eyes, and hastily knelt beside her, awkwardly helping her sit up next to him. He held her, she clung to him and they sat there, grateful for a quiet moment.

Finally, Aelita recovered enough to speak. She looked up into Jeremie's charming blue eyes, and asked, 'Why?'

Jeremie shook his head sadly. 'I can't tell you, Aelita. But you must be strong, and defeat XANA. You must, Aelita. For me. For me and every single other person who loves you.'

And then her friends were back, but instead of the formal semicircle they held before, they were in casual positions – Ulrich's arm around Yumi's waist, and they occasionally smiled at each other knowingly, Odd and Sissi exchanging insults, William stoic and silent on the outskirts. And instead of their uniforms, they wore their usual day clothes.

Jeremie stayed by her side, his face tinged with an indefinite sadness. 'I'm sorry, Aelita,' he said sombrely, and they went back into silence, enjoying the muted conversations of her friends, and just basking in the radiance of her secret place of happiness.

Soon XANA burst in, but his presence seemed like a black wisp compared to Aelita's friends, surrounded as he was by the sunlight and laughter. He was out of place, and he knew it.

He looked around, hissing savagely. 'I thought I killed you off,' he growled, surveying them. His eyes came to rest on Aelita, and he gave her a knowing smile. Instantly, her friends became an impenetrable barrier between them, closing his sightline from Aelita and Jeremie. As she watched in horror, their forms slowly returned to their Lyoko clothing. She wanted to stop them, to banish XANA… but it was useless.

'You're not touching her,' Yumi stated calmly. XANA recoiled, hissing like a snake.

'Franz,' Ulrich called, looking over his shoulder. Aelita looked behind her as well, confused, and then her father materialised by her shoulder, smiling down at her.

It was almost too much to bear, seeing her friends against XANA again, seeing Jeremie after his too-sudden demise. And now her father. Aelita could have fainted. All she wanted was to be _normal_… and the waterworks re-started.

'Don't cry, little Aelita,' Franz Hopper said kindly. Aelita ceased, soothed by his voice.

'Listen now and carefully, for your friends can only hold XANA off for so long.' Franz's voice became more urgent, but was still tinged with a deep affection. 'Aelita, as my daughter, you and only you have the power to defeat XANA and save the rest of the world. You must not be afraid to use it, you must not hesitate. XANA must be destroyed, and _you_, Aelita, are the only one to do it. Please, Aelita. You must harness your full potential. Do it for me. For us.' Franz Hopper's voice was desperate, pleading, an echo of Jeremie's.

'But how?' Aelita whispered.

Franz Hopper shook his head sadly. 'It is not my place to tell, you must discover for yourself.'

If it wasn't such a serious situation, Aelita would have rolled her eyes in frustration. But now, she was more determined than ever. She looked back to where her friends battled XANA – the fight was turning in XANA's favour.

Ulrich, Yumi and William were fighting in a row, communicating with silent movements, in perfect synchronisation with each other. Strangely, each of them was imbued with a faint _aura_… William dark blue, Yumi red and Ulrich green, with a golden touch.

A faintly pink Sissi was issuing encouragement, keeping up a shield of pink sparks swirling around them – they saved the warriors' lives on more than one occasion. Odd (of course purple) was dancing around the outskirts, firing laser arrows everywhere with deadly accuracy. But slowly, they were being pushed into a tight little group, a little burst of colour against the black cloud.

Yumi somersaulted over, landing neatly next to Ulrich. Without speaking, Ulrich covered Yumi while she whipped out her fans, sending them zinging through the cloud to break it apart momentarily, only for it to sweep back together. They all had the same expression on their faces – tight, cold determination born from friendship and love.

Then XANA's human form stepped out with a pained expression. Instantly the warriors turned to him, with Ulrich in the centre, Yumi and Odd by his sides and Sissi and William on the far left and right.

'Why do you bother? This is almost exactly what happened on Lyoko,' he said, holding his hands out peacefully. Their reply was to launch three laser arrows, two tessan fans, a barrage of pink sparks and lasers, two katanas, a meat-cleaver style sword, blasts of telekinesis and dark blue smoke. The XANA-boy vanished under the blast.

'I think we did it,' whispered Odd. Yumi shook her head warningly, tensed to spring.

And that was when XANA emerged from the smoke, laughing. 'Like I said,' he hissed, bringing his arms together in a great sweeping motion that had the smoke pouring in, despite the Lyoko Warriors' best efforts.

Aelita itched to join the fray, especially when Jeremie stood up and sent pale blue lightning soaring from his fingers into the smoke.

Aelita's arm was half raised to perform and energy field, her lips formed the words… and she remembered she wasn't in uniform. She could scream at the helplessness of it all, and with a thump she remembered that the friends fighting for her were all dead before their times, and the familiar aching, empty pain wrenched in her chest again.

At last, she could stand it no more. She stood up shakily, her green eyes bright with emotion and fixed on the pale boy that was dancing around _her_ friends that were valiantly defending her. Jeremie made a move to stop her, but Franz put an arm on Jeremie's, staying him.

Aelita began to move toward the battle, with only one thing in mind – the destruction of XANA.

**Phew long chapter… Apologies again, I didn't realise how long I had put this off, and my writing skills might not be up to scratch...**

**By the way, has anybody seen the movie Mamma Mia? Did anybody else think it was really good? D**

**REVIEW!! Or XANA will get you… :)**


	29. Chapter 29

XANA's eyes were wild

XANA's eyes were wild. He laughed, unaware of that a girl with burning green eyes fixed on him was walking steadily toward him through the maelstrom. In fact, he was so lost in his own sick glory that he didn't notice until Aelita stood directly before him.

'XANA,' Aelita shrieked, her hair flying. Her form was flickering, surrounded by a pink haze.

'Aelita!' XANA looked shocked for an instant, before his composure returned. 'So you've come to sense at last,' he said, smirking and holding out a hand.

Aelita couldn't believe it. He _still_ saw her as a potential ally. After he had killed her friends, murdered her father, and taken away Jeremie. She spluttered in outrage, and slapped XANA's hand away as hard as she could. XANA staggered, shocked. Where did Aelita get such strength?

XANA looked down at his injured hand. There was a red mark shimmering there, but to his amazement, it didn't fade. It stayed, stinging and burning his skin. He looked up, fear clouding his eyes for the first time. 'Aelita, what-'

'Shut _up_!' Aelita screamed. 'Shut up, shut up, _shut up_!'

XANA was taken aback. Then his eyes widened as he realised, taking in the haze – Aelita was finally unleashing her full power. 'Don't-' he tried to plead.

Aelita yelled wordlessly, unable to find words to express the tidal wave flooding inside her. Every nerve was buzzing, and she felt fully _alive_. The pink haze around her grew ever stronger.

She screwed up her eyes, and just let every single emotion well out, her body was too small to contain them anymore. They ripped from her, and she screamed again, finally uncorking her bottled up emotion. She hadn't expected them to be so potent.

The pink aura swelled, forcing back the black. Through the red haze over her eyes, she dimly registered the Lyoko Warriors disappearing, one by one.

XANA was in shock. But only for a moment. Then he bared his teeth and set to work forcing the pink back to its source. However, it was a losing battle. Aelita's full potential was simply too much. The pink grew so bright it was blinding, and XANA fell down, shielding his eyes, defeated.

But the pink light kept growing until it had cleansed every single trace of black smoke from the area. Then, it imploded into a million sparkling wisps that gradually faded into the air.

XANA raised his head feebly. He seemed to had grown smaller, and his skin was ashen. His hair was lank and looked unhealthy and hung in stringy locks around his wan face. His form shivered, hazy around the edges and his clothing clung dismally to his skin. Gone was his confidence and arrogance.

'Why?' he croaked hoarsely at the cold, beautiful face of Aelita Hopper, matured by the trials of pain she had undergone.

Aelita stared down at him contemptuously, not betraying the sudden, aching exhaustion she felt. 'You killed everybody I ever loved,' she whispered, still staring mercilessly at the pitiful figure of XANA.

XANA looked confused. 'But they were in the way of your path to power. Why are you so sad?'

'You will never understand,' said Aelita quietly. 'Never, for as long as your black life exists.'

'No,' XANA agreed. Then he pulled out the twisted, wickedly sharp piece of shrapnel he had been hiding and thrust it into Aelita's body with the last of his strength.

Aelita stared blankly down at the metal protruding from her chest. Blood was already flowing down the rusted iron. She blinked, and sank onto the ground. XANA watched on eagerly, waiting for Aelita's death and the return of his power.

Aelita placed a hand on the warm, slick metal, her eyes still staring blankly at it. Then, with one quick movement, she pulled it out, where she regarded it with a confused air. The wound glowed with a faint pink aura, and sealed up as if it never was.

XANA's jaw dropped. 'How-'

And then Aelita turned to him and plunged it into _his_ chest. 'That's for Yumi,' she hissed, her eyes spitting sparks.

She pulled it out and shoved it into a different spot. 'That's for Ulrich,' she said, tears running down her face, not caring that she was getting blood everywhere. She pulled the metal out again.

'Odd.'

'Sissi.'

'William.'

'Daddy.'

As she said each name, they grew louder, echoing in her ears. She was no longer aware of the piece of metal she had in her hand, she was half-blinded by tears. Yet, doggedly, she kept going, slashing at XANA mechanically.

By then, XANA's chest was nothing but smoke. And there was no pink haze to save him, as he screamed and writhed, dwindling until he was no more than a thread of his dark, slimy true form. The smoke flew out the window, and Aelita watched it go vengefully.

The clatter of the metal clanging on the floor awoke Aelita from her reverie as the piece of shrapnel fell down.

She shook her head, and stood up, racing over to Jeremie's body where she finally collapsed, rocking his head in her hands. She kissed his cold lips.

'I didn't get one for you,' she sobbed. 'I'm so, so sorry…'

A wind rushed around the room, ruffling her hair. She looked up in time to see her father and friends appear one last time, smiling and crying with joy.

'Don't be,' they said in unison. 'We're proud, and we love you…'

And then they were gone, and Aelita was alone again. The sun was just rising, casting a few rays upon the wreckage of something that once was her school and home. She fell down next to Jeremie, curled up and finally went to sleep.

But, a few minutes later, Aelita woke with a start, burning with a new knowledge, one that she would give her own life to use – the knowledge that would grant her the return of her friends and family.

**Mysterious, eh. Again, sorry I haven't updated so dreadfully long – review please!**


End file.
